Whistleblower exposes dark secrets of DOJ and White House immigration policies: Here's what he alleges

Time of India

11 hours ago

A whistleblower has accused the Trump-era
Justice Department
of planning to defy federal court orders in a sweeping effort to speed up deportations, raising urgent questions about rule of law and accountability at the top levels of government.
Erez
Reuveni
, a senior lawyer in the department until April, said he was fired after opposing directives he considered unlawful. His letter, sent to Congress and internal investigators, directly implicates senior officials, including
Trump
's former personal defence lawyer Emil
Bove
.
Bove now faces a Senate hearing on his nomination to a lifetime seat on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
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'F*** the court': A stunning moment inside DOJ
The moment that changed everything came on 14 March. According to Reuveni's sworn statement, during a high-level meeting inside the Justice Department, Bove made clear that the administration's deportation flights must proceed — even if courts tried to intervene.
'Bove stated that
DOJ
would need to consider telling the courts 'f*** you' and ignore any such court order,' the complaint reads.
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Reuveni recalled stunned silence in the room. 'Mr. Reuveni perceived that others in the room looked stunned, and he observed awkward, nervous glances among people in the room. Silence overtook the room,' his lawyers noted.
Despite that, he left the meeting reassured that the Department would comply with any orders from the courts.
Deportation flights took off amid legal challenges
The deportations, carried out under the Alien Enemies Act, began that same weekend. The law, dating back to wartime legislation, had not been widely used in immigration enforcement. The flights carried alleged Venezuelan gang members to prisons in El Salvador.
Reuveni says he was present when U.S. District Judge James Boasberg called an emergency hearing on 15 March. The judge ordered deportations halted and the flights reversed.
Despite Reuveni emailing both
Homeland Security
and the State Department to stop the deportations, he received no reply. He later learned that Bove had advised DHS that it was acceptable to offload migrants once planes left U.S. airspace — before the judge's order was officially filed.
Misleading the court and internal pressure
In court, DOJ attorney Drew Ensign told the judge he knew of no deportation flights that weekend. Reuveni says Ensign had attended the 14 March meeting where Bove announced the flights.
Reuveni also described how, in another deportation case, he was instructed not to ask for facts that could help the government comply with court orders. He was told by a colleague to 'stop asking questions and putting things in writing.'
When he resisted orders to file what he called a 'frivolous and untrue' legal argument, he said, 'I didn't sign up to lie.' He was placed on administrative leave just seven hours later and dismissed on 11 April.
The case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia
One of the central incidents in the complaint involves Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran immigrant wrongly deported to a prison in El Salvador in March. A judge had barred his removal.
Reuveni informed the court that a mistake had been made. But he says leadership pressed him to call Abrego a 'terrorist' to justify the deportation. He refused.
Attorneys for DHS and the State Department told Reuveni that no corrective action would be taken unless approved by DOJ leadership — which never came. Abrego was later returned to the U.S. and charged with human trafficking.
Public defence, private fallout
Todd Blanche, now Deputy Attorney General and a close ally of Bove, dismissed the complaint, saying, 'The complaint describes falsehoods purportedly made by a disgruntled former employee and then leaked to the press in violation of ethical obligations.'
'I was at the meeting described in the article and at no time did anyone suggest a court order should not be followed,' Blanche added.
Stephen Miller, senior Trump adviser, called Reuveni a 'saboteur' and 'Democrat' during an April interview on Fox News. Reuveni's attorneys say this is false. He had received promotions and awards under Trump's first term.
Senate scrutiny and broader fallout
The letter was made public just one day before Bove's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. His nomination to the 3rd Circuit Court would give him a lifetime post with jurisdiction over Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Democrats have voiced strong opposition. Senator Richard Durbin said, 'These serious allegations, from a career Justice Department lawyer who defended the first
Trump Administration
's immigration policies, not only speak to Mr. Bove's failure to fulfil his ethical obligations as a lawyer, but demonstrate that his activities are part of a broader pattern… to undermine the Justice Department's commitment to the rule of law.'
He warned that confirming Bove could have 'dire consequences.'
Stacey Young, executive director of Justice Connection, said: 'It's unconscionable to even consider elevating someone to the judiciary who told DOJ lawyers that saying 'F-you' to courts was on the table.'
The issues raised go far beyond a single case or individual. Reuveni's legal team — Dana Gold and Andrea Meza from the Government Accountability Project, and Kevin Owen of Gilbert Employment Law — say the complaint details 'violations of law, rules or regulations, and the abuse of authority by DOJ and
White House
personnel.'
'These actions have grave impacts not only for the safety of individuals removed from the country in violation of court orders,' they wrote, 'but also for the constitutional rights and protections of all persons — citizen and noncitizen alike — who are potential victims of flagrant, deliberate disregard of due process and the rule of law by the agency charged with upholding it.'
While contempt proceedings have been initiated in some of these deportation cases, they remain tied up in ongoing appeals. But the core question remains stark: Can those tasked with enforcing the law act above it?
For now, Reuveni's allegations have pulled back the curtain on an internal battle that could shape how the United States government treats its own courts.