Family members of a man charged in a terror attack on the Boulder Pearl Street Mall were released from immigration custody late Saturday after two federal judges intervened in an effort to deport them.
Hayam El Gamal and her five children, ages 5 to 18, were released in Colorado, their attorney, Eric Lee, said in an email Sunday.
Federal immigration agents arrested the family Saturday in Colorado, hours after they returned to Colorado following their court-ordered release from a Texas detention facility, Lee said.
The family was flown to Detroit and was headed to New Jersey to be deported when the plane was forced to turn around and return to Detroit, Lee said. The family then returned to Denver.
Two federal judges issued orders Saturday barring the Trump administration from removing the family from Colorado or the U.S., according to
A federal magistrate judge on April 20 approved the release of El Gamal and her five from a federal detention center in Dilley, Texas, with the stipulation that they appear at future immigration hearings. They had been there for 10 months after El Gamal’s husband, Mohamed Soliman, was arrested in a June 2025 Molotov cocktail attack against demonstrators on the Boulder mall.
The El Gamal family has received due process and a final order of removal was issued, U.S. Department of Homeland spokeswoman Lauren Bis wrote in an email.
“Despite receiving full due process, this activist judge appointed by Bill Clinton is releasing this terroristap family onto American streets AGAIN,” Bis wrote. “Under President Trump, DHS will continue to fight for the removal of those who have no right to be in our country—especially terrorists and their associates. We are confident the courts will ultimately vindicate us.”
Soliman is accused of using a makeshift flamethrower and Molotov cocktails to burn people who gathered on the pedestrian mall in downtown Boulder for a weekly demonstration urging the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza. Witnesses said Soliman shouted, “Free Palestine” during the attack.
Karen Diamond, 82, died from injuries sustained in the attack. Police identified 29 who were injured.
El Gamal and her children were detained by federal immigration authorities two days after the attack. A federal judge in Denver ordered a deportation case against the family.
The family was living in the Colorado Springs area after arriving in the U.S. in August 2022 and was seeking political asylum. Federal officials said Soliman, who was born in Egypt and lived in Kuwait for 17 years, arrived on a tourist visa that expired in February 2023.
After being taken into custody by ICE in 2025, El Gamal said in a statement provided by her attorney that she and her children were “shocked” by Soliman’s actions and were cooperating with authorities.
Lee said on X that El Gamal and her children were denied medical care while in federal custody. He said El Gamal has reported a painful lump on her chest and medical scans have shown fluid around her heart.
Soliman faces 118 criminal charges in state court, including dozens of counts of attempted first-degree murder and assault, in addition to a federal hate-crime count.
Updated April 26 at 5 p.m. to add comment from Department of Homeland Security and detail about the El Gamal family’s recommended release from detention.
Denver Post reporter Katie Langford contributed to this report.
