A federal judge in Colorado has blocked the deportation of the family of the prime suspect in Sunday’s Molotov cocktail attack on pro-Israel demonstrators.
Mohamed Sabry Soliman was arrested for allegedly firebombing protesters who were marching peacefully in Boulder in support of the hostages in Gaza.
He allegedly "Free Palestine" while attacking Jewish pedestrians with what the FBI described as a "makeshift flamethrower" and an incendiary device. In custody, he told authorities that he wanted to “kill all Zionists” and that the attack was vengeance “for his people”, according to the Justice Department.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, Soliman and his family entered the US legally on tourist visas in 2022 and applied for asylum before they ran out – though the visas have since expired while their claim is considered.
Following the attack, his wife and five children were detained by immigration agents and scheduled for deportation.
However, Judge Gordon Gallagher of the US District Court for the District of Colorado, ruled on Wednesday that the family being deported “without process could work irreparable harm, and an order must issue without notice due to the urgency this situation presents”.
Gallagher concluded that Soliman’s family couldn’t be deported until his court or the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals vacated his order. He ordered all parties to appear at a hearing on June 13.
The ruling has been criticised by the administration, which has long railed against what it refers to as “activist judges” blocking deportations.
Kristi Noem, the secretary of homeland security, announced that Soliman’s family had been detained and that the administration is “investigating to what extent his family knew about this heinous attack, if they had knowledge of it or if they provided support to it”.
She also referred to Soliman as a “terrorist” and “illegal alien.”
In the days following the attack, President Trump also blamed Biden-era immigration policies for allowing Soliman into the country, posting on social media: “This is yet another example of why we must keep our Borders SECURE, and deport Illegal, Anti-American Radicals from our Homeland.”
