Federal judge blocks deportation of Boulder attack suspect's family

DENVER — A federal judge in Denver issued an order Wednesday to prevent the deportation of the wife and five children of the Egyptian man suspected in the firebombing attack on demonstrators in Boulder who were calling for the release of Israeli hostages.

U.S. District Judge Gordon P. Gallagher granted a request from the family of Mohammed Sabry Soliman, 45, to halt deportation proceedings for his wife and children, who were taken into federal custody Tuesday by U.S. immigration officials.

Eric Lee, an attorney for the family, said Wednesday that Soliman’s wife and children should not be punished for his actions, and noted they appeared to have a pending asylum case that allowed them to remain legally in the United States.

“It’s a basic principle of any democracy that individual responsibility is required for punishment or detention,” he said. “Only in a police-state dictatorship are measures of collective punishment used against the population, especially against asylum-seekers, and especially against asylum-seekers as young as 4 years old.”

Soliman’s wife, Hayam El Gamal, 41, and the couple’s five children were being held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas on Wednesday, Lee said. The children include two 4-year-old twins, an 8-year-old, a 15-year-old and a 17-year-old, he said.

The Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday that the couple’s oldest daughter is an 18-year-old adult; Lee said she is only 17.

The deportation hold — ordering federal authorities not to remove the family from Colorado or the U.S. — will stand until it is lifted by the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado or the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Gallagher wrote in the two-page temporary restraining order.

“The Court finds that deportation without process could work irreparable harm and an order must issue without notice due to the urgency this situation presents,” Gallagher wrote in the order issued at 2:01 p.m.

The judge scheduled a hearing in the case for June 13.

Soliman is accused of carrying out a terror attack on Boulder’s Pearl Street Mall on Sunday. He is alleged to have shouted “Free Palestine” and used a makeshift flamethrower and Molotov cocktails to burn more than a dozen people who had gathered for a weekly demonstration urging the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

The shocking violence on the popular pedestrian mall shook the Jewish community in Colorado and across the nation; the U.S. Department of Justice labeled it an “antisemitic terror attack.”

Soliman lived in the Colorado Springs area with his family, who are all Egyptian citizens.

He spent 17 years living in Kuwait before he and his family arrived in the U.S. on Aug. 27, 2022, according to Homeland Security. They were granted entry to the U.S. until Feb. 26, 2023. Soliman overstayed his visa and applied for political asylum in Denver on Sept. 29, 2022, listing his wife and children as dependents, according to Homeland Security.

Soliman was granted a work authorization in March 2023, but that also expired.

But an exhibit filed with El Gamal’s attempt to block her deportation includes a notice from February 2023 that informs the family their asylum case is pending.

“You may remain in the U.S. until your asylum application is decided,” the notice reads.

Lee said Wednesday that the current status of the asylum case is unclear and that he had not received any information about changes in the case after Sunday’s attack. He said the family is alleging in their asylum case that they have a credible fear of returning to Egypt.

“I have seen the press reports indicating the visas were revoked,” he said. “It is not entirely clear to me what that is about. This is also a situation where I’ve had the ability to talk to Ms. El Gamal for seven minutes before ICE cut our phone call off, so we are going on limited information.”

Federal officials moved quickly to detain Soliman’s wife and children after Sunday’s attack, and the White House said in a statement Tuesday that the family could be deported as soon as that night.

Emails included as an exhibit in El Gamal’s Colorado case show she exchanged a series of one-line emails with her immigration attorney beginning at 10:36 a.m. Tuesday.

“Hi please call urgently Florence Colorado ice office,” El Gamal wrote in one email.

The Boulder County district attorney’s office on Wednesday increased the number of victims in the attack, saying 15 people and a dog were hurt; all are expected to survive. The ages of the eight women and seven men range from 25 to 88.

“We continue to work closely with our federal, state and local partners in strong response to this horrific attack,” District Attorney Michael Dougherty said in a statement. “We are united in our commitment to pursuing justice for all the victims, their many loved ones, and this community. We stand with the Jewish community and the people of Colorado against hate and terror.”

Boulder spokesperson Jamie Barker said the dog suffered minor injuries, but no other details about the animal were available.

Soliman is expected to be charged in state court Thursday with dozens of criminal counts, including attempted murder. He has already been charged with a federal hate crime count in connection with the attack.

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(Daily Camera reporter Nicky Andrews and Denver Post reporter Jessica Alvarado Gamez contributed to this report.)

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