Judge BLOCKS deportation of Colorado terror suspect's family
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A federal judge in Colorado has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting the wife and five children of the Boulder fire-bomb suspect.
Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, allegedly injured 12 people aged between 52 and 88 at a demonstration honoring the October 7 victims who are still being held hostage by Hamas militants in Gaza.
The horror unfolded during an event organized by Run For Their Lives on Pearl Street Mall in the Colorado city's downtown just before 1.30pm local time on Sunday, the first day of the Jewish holiday Shavuot.
The wife and five children of the Egyptian suspect were arrested and taken into custody by agents with ICE and Homeland Security on Tuesday.
Soliman had allegedly been planning the attack for a year but wanted to wait until his daughter Habiba finished high school, in an apparent effort to shield his family from any repercussions.
The promising young student had won awards in school and dreamed of studying medicine, revealing in an essay that her life in the United States since arriving from Kuwait had 'fundamentally changed' her.
But she was arrested alongside her four siblings and her mother Hayam El Gamal in the aftermath of the alleged terror attack as the Trump administration sought expedited removal, which would allow authorities to rapidly deport them without a hearing in an immigration court.
The family earned a temporary reprieve on Wednesday when Biden-appointed US District Court Judge Gordon Gallagher said deporting them without adequate process could cause 'irreparable harm.'
Blocking the request, the judge wrote: '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.'
The decision has sparked fury among MAGA loyalists who argue the left-wing judge is joining a long list of other legal minds standing in the way of the Trump administration's efforts to make America safer.
But lawyers representing Soliman's family sued the US government, seeking to win the family members' release from custody and block their deportation.
Their lawsuit, filed in federal court in Colorado, said that Hayam 'was shocked to learn that her husband was arrested for having committed a violent act against a peaceful gathering of individuals commemorating Israeli hostages.'
The suit called for the family to be released while they seek asylum in the US.
'It is patently unlawful to punish individuals for the crimes of their relatives,' the filing said.
'Such methods of collective or family punishment violates the very foundations of a democratic justice system.'
Daughter Habiba had shared intimate details of the family's struggles in an essay for The Denver Gazette as she sought a scholarship.
'I learned to adapt to new things even if it was hard. I learned to work under pressure and improve rapidly in a very short amount of time,' she wrote, revealing she learned English as a sophomore at the Thomas MacLaren School in Colorado Springs.
In the years since the family settled in Colorado, Habiba organized events to build school spirit by starting an Arabic club. She also participated in Big Brothers, Big Sisters to help middle schoolers feel more comfortable transitioning to high school.
She even learned how to play basketball, and received the Highlander Award for Leadership Involvement for her efforts.
Habiba's favorite activity, though, was volunteering at UC Health, which she said 'will help me in my future medical career.'
She explained that when she was younger, her father underwent a difficult surgery that restored his ability to walk.
The high school senior said she considered the procedure nothing short of 'magic' and realized she then wanted to pursue a career in medicine.
'Most importantly, I came to appreciate that family is the unchanging support,' she wrote.
But her dreams were put on pause earlier this wheen when Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem shared a video sensationally revealing the administration was going after Soliman's family in the wake of his alleged crimes.
She said they would be deported, adding that his 'despicable actions will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.'
'We are also investigating to what extent his family knew about this horrific attack. If they had any knowledge of it or if they provided any support to it.
'I am continuing to pray for the victims of this attack and for all of their families. Our thoughts and our prayers go out to all of them. And I want them to know, justice will be served.'
The terror suspect is now facing 16 counts of attempted murder and federal hate crime charges after allegedly launching the makeshift flamethrowers on Sunday, wounding at least 12 people.
Soliman reportedly yelled 'Free Palestine' during the attack, and authorities said they found 16 unused Molotov cocktails when they arrested him, adding that he only threw two of the devices because he was 'scared and had never hurt anyone before.'
The suspect has lived with his wife and five children in Colorado Springs, a city about 100 miles south of Boulder, for the past three years. The Egyptian national previously spent 17 years living in Kuwait.
While the White House said the family would be deported through a fast-track process known as expedited removal, the lawsuit argued the family should not be subject to that process because they have resided in the US for more than two years.
Soliman worked as an Uber driver and had passed the company´s eligibility requirements, which included a criminal background check, according to a spokesperson for Uber.
An online resume under Soliman's name says he was employed by a Denver-area health care company working in accounting and inventory control, with prior employers listed as companies in Egypt.
Soliman listed Al-Azhar University, a historic center for Islamic and Arabic learning located in Cairo, on the resume.
When he was arrested, Soliman reportedly told investigators that he left messages for his family on his iPhone, which his wife then turned over to authorities.
According to an affidavit on his arrest, agents also recovered a journal from Soliman's home in which he detailed his plans for the attack, and said he wanted to 'kill all Zionists.'
He first entered the US in Los Angeles on August 27, 2022, and was allowed to stay through February 2, 2023, on a non-immigrant visa but never left.
He was granted a work authorization permit on March 29, 2023, which was valid through March 2024, with the Trump administration slamming the previous White House for granting the permit while Soliman was an illegal immigrant.
'(Soliman) was granted a tourist visa by the Biden Administration and then he illegally overstayed that visa. In response, the Biden Administration gave him a work permit. Suicidal migration must be fully reversed,' Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller previously wrote on X.
Those who lived near the family in Colorado Springs said they were stunned by Mohamed's alleged actions, and said they knew his wife and daughter to be kind.
Neighbor Rachel Delzell said she went to the city's only mosque with Soliman's wife, and although she had not met Mohamed, she told the New York Times that she couldn't believe the alleged attacker came from the family.
'I can’t believe he was a part of that,' she said. 'You don’t raise a daughter like that and have a wife like that, and do something like that.'
