The family members have not been charged in the attack on a group demonstrating for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza.
Soliman, 45, has been charged with a federal hate crime and state counts of attempted murder in the Sunday attack in downtown Boulder.
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said Wednesday that the family were being processed for removal proceedings.
It’s rare that family members of a person accused of a crime are detained and threatened with deportation.
Noem also said federal authorities would immediately crack down on people who overstay their visas, in response to the Boulder attack.
BOULDER, CO. To protect the family’s constitutional rights, a federal judge on Wednesday ordered the government to immediately stop deportation proceedings against the wife and five children of a man accused of carrying out the Boulder, Colorado, firebombing attack. The judge described the situation as urgent.
U. S. District Judge Gordon P. Gallagher granted the family of Mohamed Sabry Soliman’s request to prevent their deportation, following U. S. . They were placed under federal custody by immigration officials on Tuesday.
Gallagher 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,” in the order.
In connection with the assault on a group protesting for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza, the family members have not been charged. In the Sunday attack in downtown Boulder, 45-year-old Soliman has been charged with both a federal hate crime and state counts of attempted murder.
U. S. On Wednesday, Kristi Noem, the secretary of homeland security, announced that the family was being prepared for removal procedures. Family members of someone who has been accused of a crime are rarely held in custody and threatened with deportation.
The family’s lawyers wrote in the lawsuit that “punishing individuals for the crimes of their relatives is patently unlawful.”. Such family or collective punishment techniques go against the fundamental tenets of a democratic legal system. “.”.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, Soliman’s wife, daughter, who is eighteen, two young sons, and two young daughters are all citizens of Egypt.
“We are looking into how much his family was aware of this horrible attack, whether they knew about it, or whether they encouraged it,” Noem said in a statement.
After the Boulder attack, Noem also stated that federal officials would take swift action against those who overstay their visas.
According to court documents that occasionally spelled his name as “Mohammed,” Soliman told authorities that nobody, not even his family, knew about his planned attack. The lawsuit claims that Soliman’s wife expressed her shock at finding out that her husband had been taken into custody for the attack.
Earlier on Wednesday, authorities increased the number of people injured in the attack from 12 to 15, including a dog.
Eight women and seven men, ages 25 to 88, are among the victims, according to a news release from Boulder County officials. In an email to prosecutors on Wednesday, the Associated Press requested additional information about the recently named victims.
During Sunday’s demonstration at the well-known Pearl Street pedestrian mall, Soliman threw only two of his eighteen Molotov cocktails while shouting “Free Palestine,” according to police, although he had intended to kill all 20 or so protesters. A man from Egypt named Soliman has reportedly been residing in the United States. A. Police stated in an affidavit that he did not execute his entire plan illegally “because he got scared and had never hurt anyone before.”.
In reference to the movement to create and defend a Jewish state in Israel, Soliman allegedly told police that his motivation was to “kill all Zionist people” (FBI affidavit). He did not apologize for the attack, according to the authorities.
The local Jewish community center will host a vigil on Wednesday night.
An Egyptian security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, stated that Soliman was born in el-Motamedia, an Egyptian farming village in the Nile Delta province of Gharbia, approximately 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of Cairo.
According to court records, Soliman lived in Kuwait for 17 years prior to relocating to Colorado Springs three years ago.
Soliman got to the U.S. S. In a post on X, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin of the Department of Homeland Security stated that she was in August 2022 on a tourist visa that ended in February 2023. She stated that after submitting an asylum application in September 2022, Soliman received a work authorization in March 2023, but that has since expired as well.
According to reports from the Department of Homeland Security, hundreds of thousands of people overstay their visas in the United States annually.
The case against Soliman According to the affidavit, Soliman told authorities that he had been preparing the attack for a year and was waiting for his daughter to graduate before executing it.
In April, one of Soliman’s children was featured in a Colorado Springs newspaper, which covered the family’s trip from Egypt to Kuwait and then to the United States. A. It claimed that after initially having academic difficulties, his daughter achieved academic honors and began volunteering at a nearby hospital.
In addition to state-level attempted murder charges, Soliman has been charged with a federal hate crime, but authorities say more charges may be forthcoming. He is expected to appear in state court on Thursday and is currently being held in a county jail on a $10 million cash bond.
Following a hearing in state court on Monday, his lawyer, Kathryn Herold, declined to comment. Speaking to the media is forbidden by public defenders’ policy.
Police and witnesses claim that when Soliman threw the second incendiary device, he set himself on fire. Officials stated that they think Soliman did it by himself. His injuries were not described in detail, but a booking photo revealed a big bandage covering one ear.
The attack took place in the midst of the Israel-Hamas conflict, which has led to an increase in antisemitic violence in the US. It took place at the start of the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, just one week after a man who also shouted “Free Palestine” was accused of shooting two Israeli Embassy employees to death outside a Jewish museum in Washington.
Six victims were admitted to the hospital; the victims, who were volunteers from the Run For Their Lives group, were between the ages of 25 and 88 and participated in their weekly demonstration.
Information regarding the three victims who were taken to the UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital on the CU Anschutz Medical Campus was not disclosed on Wednesday.
In an e-mail, spokesperson Kelli Christensen stated, “They have requested privacy to heal.”.
When her family fled the Nazis during the Holocaust, one of the victims was a child, according to Ginger Delgado of the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office. Delgado is speaking on behalf of the woman’s family, who prefer that her name not be used.
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