Overview
- U.S. District Judge Melissa DuBose ordered Bryan Rafael Gomez released from ICE custody on Tuesday after granting his habeas petition and ruling the mandatory-detention statute ICE cited did not apply.
- Records show DuBose directed minimal release conditions and a bond hearing, while an immigration judge separately issued a deportation order the same day.
- Gomez, who was arrested April 4 in Worcester for assault and battery and then transferred to ICE after $500 bail, is described by DHS as wanted for homicide in the Dominican Republic and the subject of an Interpol Red Notice, which is a request to locate someone rather than a binding U.S. arrest order.
- Court officials say the government never told DuBose about the foreign warrant, and an assistant U.S. attorney said ICE told him not to disclose it and apologized for the lack of disclosure.
- A show-cause hearing is now scheduled on the non-disclosure issue, as DHS publicly attacked the ruling and the Boston Globe reported court warnings that inflammatory rhetoric toward judges can mislead the public and invite threats.