Judge Blocks Deportation of Boulder Suspect’s Family

I was about to tee off on the judge when our fact-checking team reminded me that the judge blocked the deportation of the family, not the suspect.

Judge Blocks Deportation of Boulder Suspect’s Family

A petition on behalf of the family challenged the use of expedited removal

By Victoria Albert, WSJ

Updated June 4, 2025 11:22 pm ET

The man accused of attacking a group with makeshift flamethrowers in Boulder, Colo., told authorities he had planned the attack for more than a year.

A federal judge in Colorado has issued an order blocking the deportation of the family of Egyptian national Mohamed Sabry Soliman, the man accused in Sunday’s incendiary attack in Boulder, Colo.

In a Wednesday order, Judge Gordon Gallagher prevented the government from removing Soliman’s wife and five children for the time being, saying that deporting them without legal process could cause irreparable harm.

Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said the family is rightfully in ICE custody.

Soliman, 45, has been charged with attempted murder and a hate crime over the attack in Boulder, in which he is accused of throwing Molotov cocktails into a group advocating for hostages held in Gaza. Fifteen people were injured in the incident.

Soliman told investigators that he concealed his attack plans from his family, officials said in court documents.

Homeland Security said Tuesday that it had taken Soliman’s wife and five children into custody and was processing them for removal from the U.S., with the White House saying in a post on X that they could be deported as early as Tuesday night. All six are Egyptian citizens.

A family embraces at a memorial of flowers for victims of the Boulder, Colo., attack.

A memorial at the site of the attack that injured 15 people, outside the Boulder County Courthouse in Colorado. Photo: mark makela/Reuters

The department has said Soliman and his family first came to the U.S. in August 2022 and were granted entry for six months. They applied for asylum in September. After Soliman’s B2 visa—typically used for tourism—expired, the department said, he was granted a work authorization that has also lapsed.

The White House said Tuesday that it intended to use expedited removal, a process that allows the government to remove some immigrants quickly without a court hearing.

A petition filed Tuesday on behalf of the family challenged the use of expedited removal, arguing that the government is authorized to use that process only for people who entered the country illegally and have been present in the U.S. continuously for less than two years. The family’s asylum application also remains pending, according to the court documents.

McLaughlin, the DHS spokeswoman, said the claims “are absurd and are clearly an attempt to delay justice.”

Lawyers representing the family believe they are being detained in Florence, Colo.

“It is patently unlawful to punish individuals for the crimes of their relatives,” the documents said. “Such methods of collective or family punishment violates the very foundations of a democratic justice system.”