Alleged Colorado attacker's family released after nearly a year in detention

Immigration Alleged Colorado attacker's family released after nearly a year in detention April 26, 20269:30 PM ET Adrian Florido The ICE South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, is seen, Aug. 23, 2019. Eric Gay/AP hide caption toggle caption Eric Gay/AP On Thursday evening, Hayam El Gamal and her five children were freed after 10 months at an ICE detention center in Texas. That morning, a Texas federal judge had ordered their release. He had also told the government not to deport them. ICE had been trying to expel them ever since El Gamal's husband, in a high profile case in June 2025, was charged with attempted murder for allegedly throwing molotov cocktails at Colorado protesters who'd gathered in support of Israeli hostages in Gaza – an attack his family said it knew nothing about. Back home in Colorado on Saturday, two days after their release, El Gamal and her children reported to an ICE office for a required check-in. There, ICE detained them again, told them they were being deported to Egypt, and rushed them onto a plane, their lawyers said. Sponsor Message "They were horrified," one of their lawyers, Chris Godshall-Bennett, said. Immigration More immigrants are being held in detention for over a year. NPR followed one family's ordeal. It was all done in apparent violation of the Texas judge's orders. Their lawyers rushed to four federal courts on Saturday to try to stop their deportation. In emergency rulings, the Texas judge, Fred Biery, and a second federal judge in Colorado, Nina Wang, again ordered the government not to deport them. Only then, their lawyers say, did the jet carrying them toward the East Coast turn around mid-flight and deliver El Gamal and her five children back to Denver Saturday night. "I'm afraid to let them out of my sight," Godshall-Bennett said by phone from Colorado on Sunday, while El Gamal's children played nearby. "They were treated like animals. ICE took children into their custody in violation of a court order and flew them around the country for eight hours. There's a word for that. It's kidnapping. The government's behavior yesterday was entirely beyond the pale." In a statement to NPR on Sunday, the Department of Homeland Security did not confirm that it had re-detained the family. Nor did it address the accusation that it had violated the Texas judge's orders. "Mohammed Soliman is a terrorist responsible for an anti-Semitic firebombing in Boulder. The family received full due process and was issued a final order of removal on December 29, 2025," Lauren Bis, a DHS spokeswoman, said in the statement. "Despite receiving full due process, this activist judge appointed by Bill Clinton is releasing this terrorist's family on American streets AGAIN." Sponsor Message Bis also said the Trump administration will continue fighting to deport "terrorists and their associates." The family first arrived in the U.S. on tourist visas in 2022, and applied for asylum before their visas expired, according to their attorneys. Their application was pending when Soliman was charged in the attack last June. An immigration judge later denied their request for asylum. Law Justice Department makes it easier to deport those with DACA status After the attack, Soliman was charged with federal hate crimes and state attempted murder charges. He remains in custody. The Trump administration said it would investigate whether his family knew anything about his alleged plans for the attack. But El Gamal was never…

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