An illegal immigrant wanted for murder in another country was set free from immigration detention after ICE failed to tell the Justice Department that it could tell a federal judge about the arrest warrant, government lawyers said.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Rhode Island said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had told prosecutors there was a murder arrest warrant from the Dominican Republic for Bryan Rafael Gomez. But ICE gagged the prosecutors, saying they couldn’t reveal that information publicly.
That left them to defend ICE’s detention of Mr. Gomez without being able to reveal the warrant.
“I had been informed by ICE about the petitioner’s pending arrest warrant issued on January 24, 2023, from a court in the Dominican Republic and that I could not disclose that information,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Bolan said in a filing Friday. “I relied on ICE’s representation that I was not permitted to disclose that information and understood that a legitimate law enforcement reason prevented disclosure.”
U.S. District Judge Melissa DuBose ordered Mr. Gomez released on April 28.
Homeland Security responded to the release with a scathing statement attacking Judge DuBose as an “activist Biden judge” who had released a “violent criminal illegal alien.”
“An activist judge appointed by Joe Biden released this wanted murderer back into American communities,” said acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis. “This is yet another example of an activist judge trying to thwart President Trump’s mandate from the American people to remove criminal illegal aliens from our communities.”
It turns out ICE had put out a press release on April 16 mentioning the arrest.
That information seems not to have made it to Judge DuBose, who, after Homeland Security’s criticism, demanded the Justice Department explain what happened.
That led to the filing from Mr. Bolan.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Charles Calenda, the first assistant U.S. attorney in Rhode Island, are also on the brief filed Friday.
Mr. Calenda, in a statement, blamed news reports for “erroneously” saying the judge had released Mr. Gomez “with knowledge” of the arrest warrant. He said Judge DuBose did not know.
The Washington Times has sought comment from ICE for this story.
The case is the latest in a string of instances where Justice Department lawyers say ICE has left it high and dry.
In another case, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan said ICE last year had said its sensitive locations policy justifying arrests at courthouses applied to immigration courts, too. But ICE later issued a “reminder” to its personnel saying the policy did not apply to immigration courts.
“We deeply regret that this error has come to light at this late stage, after the parties have expended significant resources and time to litigate this case and this court has carefully considered Plaintiffs’ challenge to the 2025 ICE guidance,” the U.S. attorney said in a filing with U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel.
In Minnesota, meanwhile, the chief federal judge has counted dozens of instances of ICE violating judges’ release orders.
In Rhode Island, Gomez had filed a habeas corpus petition to challenge his detention, saying he should have been allowed to post a bond.
Judge DuBose agreed. She ordered him released and said ICE should then give him a bond hearing.
The case is one of thousands of habeas challenges that have flooded the courts since late last year as immigrants try to thwart their deportation.
