Denver: A federal judge in Colorado issued a temporary halt on Wednesday to the Trump administration’s plan to deport the wife and five children of an Egyptian man accused of carrying out a firebomb attack in Boulder, Colorado.
U.S. District Court Judge Gordon Gallagher ruled that deporting the family members—whose ages range from 4 to 17—without due process could result in “irreparable harm.” He scheduled a hearing for June 13 to further examine the case.
The ruling followed a lawsuit filed the same day by the family of the Egyptian national charged with throwing gasoline bombs at a pro-Israeli rally held in Colorado on Sunday. The lawsuit, filed in federal court, seeks to release the family from custody and block their deportation as they pursue asylum in the United States.
According to court documents, the Trump administration had announced on Tuesday that the family members were taken into custody and slated for deportation under expedited removal, a fast-track deportation process. However, the family’s legal team argues that this procedure should not apply because they have lived in the U.S. for over two years.
The lawsuit states that Hayam El Gamal, the wife of Mohamed Sabry Soliman, “was shocked” to learn about her husband’s arrest in connection with the Boulder attack, which targeted a gathering commemorating Israeli hostages.
“It is patently unlawful to punish individuals for the crimes of their relatives,” the filing asserts. “Such methods of collective or family punishment (violate) the very foundations of a democratic justice system.”
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White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller criticized the judge’s decision on social media platform X, claiming that Gallagher, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, was providing “extraordinary preferential treatment to illegal alien foreign terrorists.”
“The Boulder terrorist is an illegal, his entire family that he imported to America are illegals, and now a Biden Judge is blocking their deportation,” Miller wrote. “End the judicial coup.”
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Federal authorities have stated that Soliman was residing in the U.S. illegally after overstaying a tourist visa, and that his work permit had expired. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced that federal agents are investigating the extent of the family’s knowledge or involvement in the attack, including whether they provided any support.
El Gamal, 41, is an Egyptian national born in Saudi Arabia, according to the lawsuit. She and her children entered the U.S. on visitor visas in August 2022 and are dependents under her husband’s pending asylum application. El Gamal works as a network engineer and had applied for a work visa, the court documents state.
