Overview
- Federal judges in Rhode Island named a special counsel to examine DOJ attorney Kevin Bolan after he said ICE told him not to reveal a Dominican Republic murder warrant to Judge Melissa DuBose.
- Judge DuBose had ordered detainee Bryan Rafael Gómez released under conditions in a habeas case, then issued a show-cause order when she learned the government withheld the foreign warrant.
- The First Assistant U.S. Attorney corrected the public record, Bolan apologized in court, and DuBose referred him for possible discipline over his duty of candor to the court.
- DHS posted a press release that named DuBose and claimed she knowingly freed a “wanted murderer,” and the page remains online despite court warnings that such rhetoric could fuel threats to judges.
- ICE said it blocked disclosure because Dominican authorities had not authorized use of the warrant, underscoring gaps in how U.S. courts treat foreign warrants compared with U.S. charges and raising calls to tighten ICE–DOJ protocols.