The Justice Department suspended a veteran lawyer after he said in court that officials mistakenly deported a man to prison in his home country of El Salvador and conceded that he did not know the legal basis for the expulsion.

Erez Reuveni had worked at the Justice Department for nearly 15 years, most recently as the acting deputy director of the Office of Immigration Litigation. A Justice Department official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a personnel matter, said he was put on indefinite leave.

In response to questions about Reuveni, Attorney General Pam Bondi said: “At my direction, every Department of Justice attorney is required to zealously advocate on behalf of the United States. Any attorney who fails to abide by this direction will face consequences.”

Reuveni appeared in federal court in Maryland on Friday after the government’s extraordinary admission that it should not have deported Kilmar Abrego García on March 15 as part of a surprise airlift of purported gang members to the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador.

Reuveni acknowledged the mistake in court Friday and told a judge that he did not know what authority the U.S. used to deport Abrego García. Six years ago, an immigration judge found that Abrego García had testified credibly that he could be harmed or killed by gang members in El Salvador and should not be removed.

“My answer to a lot of these questions is going to be frustrating,” Reuveni told U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in federal court in Maryland. “And I’m frustrated that I don’t have answers to a lot of these questions.”

Reuveni is the latest career staffer to be fired or removed from their position for being viewed as disloyal or ill equipped to carry out President Donald Trump’s agenda. The New York Times first reported on his removal.

Typically, career staffers at the Justice Department are tasked with handling cases that they may disagree with, but they are expected to follow legal ethics and the professional standards set out by the American Bar Association.

On her first day as attorney general, Bondi issued an agencywide directive that demanded “zealous advocacy” of Trump’s agenda from the department’s more than 10,000 lawyers.

Xinis on Friday ordered the Trump administration to arrange the return of Abrego García, who is married to a U.S. citizen, by no later than 11:59 p.m. Monday.

The Trump administration immediately appealed that ruling. The Justice Department said in a filing Saturday — which Reuveni did not sign — that the judge’s order was “indefensible” and that the United States does not have “control over Abrego García.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has said the government has no power to return Abrego García because he is in the custody of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele.

“We suggest the Judge contact President Bukele because we are unaware of the judge having jurisdiction or authority over the country of El Salvador,” Leavitt said in an email.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers acknowledged in court records several days ago that they were aware of internal forms forbidding them from sending Abrego García to El Salvador and called his removal an “oversight.”

Reuveni was one of three attorneys who signed the court filing that said Abrego García was removed because of an “administrative error.” The lead attorney on the filing — Yaakov Roth, the acting assistant attorney general — was recently tapped by the Trump administration to serve in the department.

Rueveni was recently promoted to acting deputy director of the Office of Immigration Litigation, known as OIL. In announcing the promotion to staff, a Justice Department leader praised Reuveni’s work as a “top-notched litigator who has taken on some of OIL’s most challenging cases” over the past 15 years, according to a copy of the message shared with the Washington Post.

In court on Friday, Reuveni appeared frustrated with being put in the position to argue that the United States had no authority to try to secure Abrego García’s return from El Salvador.

At the end of the hearing, Reuveni made a plea, asking the judge to give the administration a few days to secure Agrego García’s return without court interference. He told the judge that had been his recommendation to government officials, whom he referred to as his clients.

“Good clients listen to their lawyers,” Xinis said.