Federal judges in Rhode Island appointed a special counsel Thursday to investigate Kevin Bolan, a Trump administration lawyer who withheld information about a migrant's homicide charges from Judge Melissa R. DuBose. Acting on Homeland Security Department guidance, Bolan failed to disclose that detainee Bryan Rafael Gomez was wanted for a 2021 killing in the Dominican Republic.

Without that knowledge, Judge DuBose released Gomez on bond in April after his arrest for assault. DHS then publicly attacked her as an "activist Biden judge" for releasing someone facing an arrest warrant for homicide—the very information the department had instructed Bolan not to disclose. Bolan apologized, but DuBose called it a "serious breakdown" in legal ethics and demanded further inquiry.

Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr. selected Niki Kuckes, a Roger Williams University law professor and former Antonin Scalia clerk, to investigate. If the court finds misconduct, punishments could range from reprimand to disbarment. The case is now further complicated: Gomez failed to report to the Boston ICE office as ordered, and the government cannot locate him.

This incident adds to a growing pattern of tensions between federal judges and administration lawyers over immigration enforcement, with judges in Washington, Boston, and Minnesota also expressing anger at DHS officials for providing misleading or incomplete information.