A few days later, D’Emidio, the partner in charge of the ICE project, sent a mass email of his own. Subject: “Call for reconciliation and healing.”

In bullet points, he wrote of his deep sympathy “for those of you whose families and friends live in fear of my client,” as well as guilt “for having been the cause of so much angst, shame, mistrust, and anger for so many of you.”

But then his email took a turn as he described how hurt he was “by the stinging words of some emails accusing me of having no sense of ethics, purpose, or values,” anger at the “vilification” of his colleagues on the ICE project, plus “frustration” over what he said were “inaccurate portrayals” of the team’s work. He then said he was proud of the “impact” his team had. D’Emidio called for dialogue “with the hope that we can heal each other’s wounds.”