U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi is seemingly running a tight ship at the Department of Justice and insists that all federal prosecutors be on the same page regarding the Trump administration's policy agenda.

As such, a senior DOJ immigration attorney was suspended on paid leave over the weekend after he failed to "zealously advocate" the government's position in a court hearing on Friday, Fox News reported.

Federal prosecutor Erez Reuveni had admitted to a judge on Friday that the administration was mistaken to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal alien living in Maryland with alleged ties to MS-13, back to his home nation of El Salvador, despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation over fear of deportation.

Suspended for failing to follow orders and "zealously advocate" the government's position

The New York Times was the first to report that Reuveni, who'd just been promoted a few weeks ago to be the acting deputy director of the DOJ’s immigration litigation division, was placed on indefinite paid leave on Saturday for appearing to question his employer's position in Garcia's case.

A letter sent by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to Reuveni, obtained by The Times, informed him that he'd been suspended for his apparent failure to "follow a directive from your superiors" while unsuccessfully arguing the Garcia case in court just one day earlier.

In a statement to The Times, Attorney General 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."

DOJ attorney questioned the administration's positions, admitted mistakes

Politico reported that Garcia, a Salvadoran who had lived illegally in Maryland for more than a decade, was admittedly erroneously deported to El Salvador in March along with hundreds of other illegal alien criminals and gang members to be incarcerated in that country's notorious maximum security prison, despite a 2019 court order that protected him from deportation over fears of persecution.

During Friday's court hearing, after which Obama-appointed U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered the DOJ to retrieve and return Garcia to the U.S. by midnight on Monday, Reuveni openly expressed his frustration with the adamant positions of his "client," the U.S. government, that Garcia was an alleged MS-13 gang member and that the judge lacked jurisdiction to order his return.

The outlet described the DOJ attorney as "noticeably unenthusiastic" during the hearing and reported that he'd acknowledged in court that he'd seen no real evidence linking Garcia to the MS-13 gang.

Reuveni even pleaded with Xinis to hold off on her decision for a day to allow him time to convince the administration to alter its position or arrange for Garcia's return without court intervention, and told the judge, "I would ask the court to give us, the defendants, one more chance to do this. That’s my recommendation to my client, but so far, that hasn’t happened."

The Hill noted that Reuveni even seemed to back away from the argument that Garcia was a dangerous foreign gang member during the hearing, and told Xinis at one point that "our only arguments are jurisdictional" and that Garcia "should not have been sent to El Salvador."

Reuveni's name no longer appears on court filings

Politico noted that the DOJ immediately appealed Judge Xinis' ruling and asked her to alter her decision, then on Saturday filed an emergency appeal with the Fourth Circuit Court to have the lower court's decision temporarily blocked.

Per the outlet, Reuveni's name was on the Friday appeal to Xinis but was not included on the Saturday appeal to the circuit court.

It is unclear if Reuveni will ultimately be fired or allowed to return to work later, nor is it clear if the appellate court will move quickly to stay the ordered return of Garcia by midnight on Monday, which the administration argued would be nearly impossible to accomplish in the limited time frame and because Garcia was now in the custody of his home nation.