A U.S. District judge ordered the release of Bryan Rafael Gomez from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, the Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday. DHS said the judge was appointed by former President Joe Biden.
U.S. District Judge Melissa DuBose found Gomez had been held in “continuous unlawful detention,” according to a court order reviewed by Fox News. The order said Gomez was not subject to the mandatory detention statute cited by ICE and was entitled to a bond hearing.
DHS said ICE cannot rearrest Gomez because of DuBose’s order. DHS Acting Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Lauren Bis called Gomez “a criminal illegal alien from the Dominican Republic with an international warrant for homicide” and criticized the judges decision.
Gomez was arrested on April 4 on an assault and battery charge in Worcester, Massachusetts, and ICE Boston detained him after he was released on $500 bail, DHS said. He was held in Rhode Island, where an immigration judge issued a deportation order on Tuesday, DHS said. The agency also said Gomez entered the U.S. illegally in 2022 after being caught and released by Border Patrol near Lukeville, Arizona.
On Jan. 24, 2023, the Coordination of the Courts of Instruction of the National District of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, issued a criminal arrest warrant for Gomez for homicide, and ICE has described him as the subject of an Interpol Red Notice, DHS said.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
