The Justice Department’s top civil prosecutor in Rhode Island will avoid disciplinary proceedings related to his withholding of information about a detained migrant’s criminal history, the state’s chief federal judge said.
There was no evidence to suggest that Kevin Bolan, the civil division chief for the Rhode Island US attorney’s office, acted in bad faith or for personal gain, or was “part of a scheme to deceive the Court.” Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr. wrote in a letter to Bolan on Tuesday.
“The Court has determined that, under all the circumstances, while this failure is grave, formal disciplinary proceedings are not necessary,” McConnell wrote.
McConnell noted Bolan’s acknowledgment that his “conduct failed to live up to the duty of candor this Court expects of all lawyers,” but informed the federal attorney that “outside of this incident, you have participated responsibly in many cases here.”
Bolan failed to disclose an immigrant’s pending murder charge in the Dominican Republic before a Rhode Island federal judge ordered his release.
The letter means Bolan will avoid sanctions or other disciplinary action. Other judges have more recently rebuked prosecutors, especially in cases over the Trump administration’s aggressive detention and deportation agenda.
DHS Scrutiny
The Rhode Island court is continuing its public condemnation of the Department of Homeland Security, noting in a separate statement on Tuesday that its special counsel investigation into Bolan’s conduct revealed “some deeply troubling circumstances.” These included that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials instructed the US attorney’s office not to disclose the pending murder charge against detainee Bryan Rafael Gomez.
After Judge Melissa R. DuBose ordered Gomez’s release, DHS issued a press release calling DuBose an “activist judge” who “released a violent criminal illegal alien who is wanted for murder.”
DuBose subsequently condemned Bolan’s “lack of candor” and said DHS was permitted to redetain Gomez. She referred Bolan for a judiciary ethics review.
“This troubling sequence raised the question whether ICE deliberately manipulated the case briefing on the Gómez petition to set up Judge DuBose to release Mr. Gómez so that it could make a false attack against her,” the court said Tuesday.
DHS has yet to redetain Gomez and his whereabouts remained unknown as of Tuesday, the court said.
Responding to a request for comment on Tuesday, DHS highlighted an op-ed from agency General Counsel James Percival published last month. Percival doubled down on the department’s characterization of DuBose in its April press release, which remained online Tuesday.
“Because the press release reflects legitimate debate regarding a judge’s ruling, DHS refused to take it down,” Percival wrote in May.
The “situation is entirely of Judge DuBose’s own making,” Percival argued, because DuBose could have ordered that the government give Gomez a bond hearing, instead of instructing that he be immediately released.
The case is Re: Kevin Bolan, D.R.I., No. 1:26-ad-00003, court letter 6/16/26.