ICE is targeting the Soliman family, marked by the crimes committed by the father

They committed no crime, but Hayam El Gamal and her five children have personally experienced all the abuses the Department of Homeland Security is accused of in its anti-immigration campaign. After spending more than 10 months detained, they hold the record for the longest time spent during Donald Trump’s presidency at the Dilley Detention Center in Texas, which has faced numerous complaints of inhumane conditions. The crime for which they were imprisoned was not committed by them, but by their father, from whom El Gamal is now divorced.

Mohamed Soliman was responsible for an attack against Israelis demonstrating in Boulder, Colorado, in support of the release of hostages held in Gaza. He threw homemade bombs at them, killing one person. Soliman faces dozens of charges, including first-degree murder and hate crimes, and could face the death penalty.

As if it were a cruel joke, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) released El Gamal and her children last week, complying with a court order, only to detain them again less than 48 hours later when they showed up for a mandatory appointment with the immigration agency. This time, they were put on a plane that their lawyer believes was bound for Egypt, their country of origin, from which they fled more than three years ago. An urgent request from their defense team and a new emergency court order resulted in the plane changing course, allowing them to return home to Colorado.

“They violated a court order that had already been issued, as in the case of Kilmar Abrego García, only this time with five children involved,” his lawyer, Eric Lee, told EL PAÍS by telephone, referring to the case of the Salvadoran man who was deported by mistake and detained by ICE after being released by a judge.

This Wednesday, they are scheduled to appear again in Denver before ICE officials, fearing another attempt at deportation. The children’s neighbors and teachers have demonstrated on numerous occasions to secure their release, and on Saturday, when they were detained again, they protested in front of Colorado Springs City Hall.

The endless nightmare this family has endured began in June 2025, when Soliman perpetrated the attack. Nothing could have prepared them for what fate had in store. The family and the accused himself maintain they were completely unaware. “I didn’t think it was possible that my quiet, peaceful father could have done something so horrible until I saw the video. The person in that video might have looked like my father, but I couldn’t believe it was the person I knew,” his eldest daughter, Habiba, who had just graduated from high school, would later testify. Soliman himself stated that “no one knew about his plans and that he never spoke to his wife or family” about them. His family described him as a very private person who barely communicated with them.

Then-Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced on social media that ICE had detained Soliman’s wife and children. Habiba, along with her four siblings (five-year-old twins, a nine-year-old girl, and a sixteen-year-old boy) and her mother, were taken to a hotel while the FBI conducted its investigation, in which they cooperated fully. They spent two days there, “without knowing they would be the last days we would be free for a long time,” the young woman would later say.

Unidentified ICE agents told them the hotel wasn’t safe and that they would be taken to another hotel. Instead, they were locked in a cell where they spent eight hours and had their phones confiscated. From there, they were told they would be transferred to a pleasant family center to await their court case. In the middle of the night on June 3, they arrived at their destination: the Dilley Detention Center.

The White House posted on the X platform: “Six one-way Tickets for Mohamed’s Wife and Five Kids. Final Boarding call coming soon.” El Gamal’s lawyers stated in court documents that the family had been in the United States for almost three years and therefore did not qualify for expedited deportation, which is only available for stays of less than two years. The family arrived in August 2022 and applied for asylum in September.

The nightmare had only just begun. The following months were marked by mistreatment and despair. In a conversation with EL PAÍS from Dilley, Habiba recounted the inhumane treatment she received. One of her twin brothers, then four years old, suffered an appendicitis attack, and no one believed him. He was only taken to the emergency room when, hours after enduring severe pain, he began vomiting. The poor quality of the food, the lack of access to medicine, and the contempt with which most of the staff treated them—common complaints among the detainees—took a toll on the family’s physical and psychological health. Just when they thought things couldn’t get any worse, Habiba was separated from her family in January and taken to another section of the center. The official justification was that she had turned 18, but Habiba had turned 18 several months earlier, so she believed it was punishment for publishing a letter denouncing her situation.

In a statement released Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security asserted that the family was receiving “full due process” and called the judge who ordered their release an “activist judge” who is “releasing this terrorist’s family onto American streets, AGAIN.” “We are confident that the courts will ultimately rule in our favor,” said Lauren Bis, acting deputy secretary of the department, according to Reuters. The statement did not explain why the family was detained on Saturday, following the ruling issued on Thursday.

Lee, however, expects a different outcome: “We will not stop until they are free from the threat of illegal deportation by this government.”

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