A federal judge in Colorado has blocked the deportation of the family of the suspect in the Boulder, Colo., attack.
The order came just as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced it was preparing to deport Mohamed Soliman’s wife and five children.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem said Tuesday that the family had been detained in connection with the investigation, saying they would face questioning over whether they had any knowledge of the attack.
According to a DHS statement Wednesday, ICE was said to be “processing them for removal.”
But Judge Gordon P. Gallagher ruled that Soliman’s wife and children not be removed from the U.S. and scheduled a hearing on the matter on June 13 for which all parties have been asked to appear.
“Moreover, 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,” Gallagher wrote.
DHS’s statement sheds new light on a White House social media post Tuesday that said the family “could be deported by tonight.”
“Six One-Way Tickets for Mohamed’s Wife and Five Kids. Final Boarding Call Coming Soon,” the White House’s post said, along with an emoji of an airplane.
It’s unusual for those facing connection to a crime to be swiftly deported, particularly in the early stages of an investigation.
Wednesday’s DHS statement mirrors Noem’s earlier remarks that the family will face questioning.
“We are investigating to what extent his family knew about this heinous attack, if they had knowledge of it, or if they provided support to it. I am continuing to pray for the victims of this attack and their families. Justice will be served,” Noem said in a Tuesday video.
Soliman, who has been accused of attacking Boulder demonstrators pushing for the return of Israeli hostages in Gaza, was charged with a federal hate crime after he admitted he spent a year planning it and singled out a group he called “Zionist,” according to the FBI.
Soliman and his family came to the U.S. in August 2022, with the defendant applying for asylum the next month.
According to DHS, the family includes his 41-year-old wife, 18-year-old daughter and four other children still identified as minors, and the family has Egyptian citizenship. DHS gave no timeline for the planned deportations.
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