Judge blocks ICE from deporting firebombing suspect’s wife, kids after agents rearrest them
DENVER – A federal judge ordered the Trump administration not to deport the wife and five children of suspected firebomber Mohamed Sabry Soliman after attorneys said they were rearrested hours after their return to Colorado.
U.S. District Judge Fred Biery issued an emergency order Saturday blocking the administration from removing the family members, who had returned to Colorado after a judge ordered their release Thursday following 10 months at a detention center in Dilley, Texas.
Eric Lee, attorney for the El Gamal family, said afterward on X that the “deportation flight has turned around and is returning to Denver. We are told the family will be released, but we don’t trust a word they say.”
Mr. Lee said Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents “kidnapped” Hayam El Gamal and her five children Saturday morning in Colorado, then placed them on an airplane to Detroit’s Willow Run Airport.
From there, he said the family would be flown “outside the United States to an unknown location,” but that the airplane “constitutionally cannot be allowed to take off.”
“The attempt to remove the El Gamel family is a violation of a federal court order and must be halted immediately,” Mr. Lee said in a Saturday statement. “The rights of the entire population and the most basic constitutional principles of separation of powers are at stake. The legal team urges the population to exercise its free speech rights to stop this unlawful deportation from taking place.”
This is outrageous and undermines the rights of every single American.
A federal judge ordered the Trump Administration not to detain or remove the El Gamal family.
ICE waited until the family had left Texas, then defied the judge’s order.
If they can ignore a court order to… https://t.co/H1I8kQwbEl
— Congressman Greg Casar (@RepCasar) April 25, 2026
Originally from Egypt, the family of seven arrived in the U.S. in 2022 on tourist visas, then applied for asylum.
Mr. Lee said the children range in age from five to 18, and that the mother suffers from “health emergencies.”
Mr. Soliman faces more than 100 state and federal charges for the June 1 attack on a group of mostly Jewish participants at a weekly “Run for Their Lives” walk at the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder, which sought to raise awareness about hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
He was charged with throwing Molotov cocktails at the gathering, injuring 29 people, including Karen Diamond, 82, who died from her injuries.
During the attack, he shouted “Free Palestine,” according to the Justice Department, which charged him with a dozen hate crimes.
