Just hours after Hayam El-Gamal and her five children, aged 18 to five, arrived back in Colorado after 10 months in an ICE detention facility in Texas, the family has been rearrested and is in the process of being deported.
“The Trump administration has kidnapped the El-Gamal family in violation of a federal court order from the Western District of Texas, which ordered them Thursday not to detain or remove the family from United States,” said Attorney Eric Lee in a statement posted on social media. “The family arrived home in Colorado this morning. Hours later, ICE arrested them all and has put them on a plane headed for Detroit’s Willow Run Airport, and then outside the United States to an unknown location.”
The family, citizens of Egypt, immigrated to the U.S. from Kuwait in 2022 with B-1 visas. According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), they filed for asylum on September 29, 2022. The family settled in Colorado Springs. Habiba Soliman, the eldest daughter, graduated high school in 2025 and was awarded The Gazette’s “Best and Brightest” scholarship.
Mohamed Sabry Soliman, the father, threw Molotov cocktails at people marching in support of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza on June 1, 2025, in Boulder. Fifteen people were injured, and one 84-year-old woman later died of the injuries she received in the attack. Days after the incident, the family was detained by ICE and have remained in custody until this week.
“The attempt to remove the El-Gamal family is in violation of a federal court order and must be halted immediately,” said Lee. “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.”
Colorado Springs community members gathered at City Hall for an emergency press conference. “This action is not only a violation of due process, but undermines our legal system,” said Jennifer Blazis, a friend of the family. “We call on the U.S. Government to immediately return the El-Gamals to Colorado Springs. They must be granted the fair due process guaranteed by law. We stand firm in ensuring this family’s rights are upheld and we’ll continue to advocate until justice is served.”
Megan O’Rear, one of the local educators connected to the El-Gamal children who traveled to Dilley, Texas to visit them last month, expressed her continued concern for the children. “They are children. they are innocent and we are treating them like criminals, how dare we,” she said. “The worst of all is to be given a little hope. Get a glimpse of what it could be. That was the worst. We are calling upon anyone and everyone who has decision-making ability to those of you who stand behind what you say is a just government. They deserve due process, we need to act within the law, follow the guidelines, bring them home.”
Lee posted that an emergency motion stopping the deportation has been granted by a U.S. District Judge. “The plane is landing in Michigan in an hour,” he wrote. “It constitutionally cannot be allowed to take off.”
