Judge ends order blocking deportation of family of man charged in
Boulder firebomb attack
[July 03, 2025]
By COLLEEN SLEVIN
DENVER (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday ended an order blocking the
deportation of the family of the man charged in the fatal firebomb
attack in Boulder, Colorado, noting government lawyers say the man's
relatives are not being rushed out of the country as the White House
originally stated.
Hayam El Gamal and her five children were detained by immigration agents
on June 3, two days after her husband Mohamed Sabry Soliman was accused
of throwing two Molotov cocktails at people demonstrating for awareness
of Israeli hostages in Gaza. Prosecutors announced Monday that an
82-year-old woman who was injured in the attack had died.
U.S. District Judge Orlando L. Garica dismissed the family's lawsuit
challenging their detention by immigration authorities. The ruling noted
that El Gamal and her children ages 4 to 18 are not eligible for
expedited deportations because they have been in the country for over
two years, which he said lawyers for the Department of Homeland Security
and Immigration and Customs Enforcement have acknowledged.
Soliman is an Egyptian national who federal authorities say was living
in the U.S. illegally. He is being prosecuted in both state and federal
court for the attack, which prosecutors say injured a total of 13
people. Investigators say he planned the attack for a year and was
driven by a desire “to kill all Zionist people.” He has pleaded not
guilty to federal hate crimes charges but hasn't been asked to enter a
plea in the state case, which now includes a murder charge.
On the day El Gamal and her children were arrested, the White House said
in social media posts that they “COULD BE DEPORTED AS EARLY AS TONIGHT”
and that six one-way tickets had been purchased for them, with their
“final boarding call coming soon." Those statements led a federal judge
in Colorado to issue an emergency order temporarily blocking the
family's deportation, Garcia said.
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The case was later transferred to Texas, where the family is being
held in an immigration detention center for families. Garcia is
based in San Antonio.
Because the family is in regular deportation proceedings, there is
no longer any reason to block their deportation, Garcia said.
Regular proceedings can take months or even years if decisions are
appealed. He also turned down the family's request to be released
from the detention center in the meantime, saying they can pursue
release through the normal bond process in the immigration system.
Lawyers for the family had challenged their detention as
unconstitutional because they said it was intended to punish them
for Soliman's actions. According to a court filing by El Gamal's
lawyers, one of the immigration agents who arrested them told her,
“You have to pay for the consequences of what you did.”
Garcia said immigration authorities have discretion in deciding who
to detain and he did not have authority to review their decision to
detain El Gamal and her children. Lawyers for the government said
they are being lawfully held because they are accused of overstaying
their visas.
One of the family's attorneys, Niels Frenzen, said they hoped to get
the family released from the detention center while the deportation
proceedings continue.
An email seeking comment from the Department of Homeland Security
and Immigration and Customs Enforcement was not immediately
returned.
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