An illegal immigrant’s deportation case spiraled into controversy this week after the Department of Homeland Security publicly accused a federal judge of releasing a “wanted murderer” using information that government lawyers had been instructed to withhold from the court, leading to the judge on Tuesday referring a Trump administration attorney for a possible misconduct investigation.
The dispute traces back to two separate DHS press releases issued weeks apart that ultimately led to the confusion in Rhode Island federal court. The course of events that led up to the issue began on April 16, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a press release announcing the arrest of “5 foreign fugitives wanted for murder,” including Dominican Republic national Bryan Rafael Gomez, an illegal immigrant accused by Dominican authorities in a homicide case.
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Then, after U.S. District Judge Melissa R. DuBose, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, ordered Gomez released from ICE custody on April 28, DHS escalated the matter publicly with a second April 30 press release titled “Activist Biden Judge Releases Violent Criminal Illegal Alien Wanted for Murder.”
“An activist judge appointed by Joe Biden released this wanted murderer back into American communities,” DHS spokeswoman Lauren Bis said in the statement.
But by that point, DuBose had not actually been informed through records in the court about the Dominican warrant when she made her release decision.
According to statements made in court this week, ICE officials had told Justice Department attorney Kevin M. Bolan not to disclose the overseas allegations to the judge because the Dominican government had not yet authorized the information to be shared in litigation.
The contradiction — one Trump administration agency publicly promoting information that government lawyers from a different agency claimed they were barred from disclosing in court — triggered the current fallout.
On Tuesday, DuBose said she would refer Bolan for a possible disciplinary investigation over what she described as a serious lack of candor to the court.
“It’s the candor and the lack of candor to this court that has to be addressed,” DuBose said. “And it has to be fully investigated, so we don’t have anything like this happen again.”
Gomez, who entered the United States illegally near Lukeville, Arizona, in 2022, was arrested in Worcester, Massachusetts, on April 4 on assault and battery charges before being transferred into ICE custody after local authorities honored an immigration detainer.
Bolan acknowledged during hearings on Monday and Tuesday that he failed to disclose the information about the foreign murder charges to the court, although he said he was told by ICE not to confirm or deny the foreign charges because authorization from the Dominican Republic had not yet been secured.
In a declaration filed with the court on May 4, a DHS official posted the Dominican Republic arrest warrant, though the contents of that filing are under seal.
But the problem for the government was that ICE had already publicly disclosed the warrant in its April 16 press release, something Bolan said he did not know at the time.
The situation worsened after DHS publicly attacked DuBose on April 30 using the same information she had not received before issuing her ruling. The department also amplified a Fox News report describing Gomez as “this accused killer” who was “back out in the streets.”
DuBose later described the administration’s public attacks as “dangerous.”
Art Arthur of the Center for Immigration Studies said the case exposed a major messaging and coordination failure inside DHS and ICE.
“If certain information is so sensitive it can’t be shared with a court, it likely shouldn’t be highlighted in a press release, either,” Arthur wrote in an analysis of the controversy.
The DOJ later issued its own May 1 statement conceding DuBose had been unaware of the overseas allegations when she ordered Gomez released.
Attorneys for Gomez have also challenged how the government characterized the foreign charges. Defense lawyer Melanie Shapiro argued in court that the Spanish-language warrant referenced a manslaughter-related statute and firearm offense rather than murder. She has also disputed the Massachusetts assault allegations against her client.
RHODE ISLAND JUDGE REFERS DOJ LAWYER FOR INVESTIGATION AFTER FAILING TO SHARE FULL CASE DETAILS
Despite her frustration with the government’s conduct, DuBose on Tuesday ordered Gomez detained again pending a new bond hearing after reconsidering the case with the additional information now before the court.
“I cannot be motivated by my feelings about how this process played out,” the judge said. “If I were to have all this information at the beginning, which decision would this court make?”
