Hayam El Gamal and her five children were freed Thursday evening after nearly 10 months at an ICE family detention center in Texas, following a Texas federal judge’s order that morning to release them and bar their deportation.
ICE had sought to expel the family after El Gamal’s husband, Mohammed Soliman, was charged in June 2025 with attempted murder for allegedly throwing molotov cocktails at protesters in Colorado who had gathered in support of Israeli hostages in Gaza. The family says it knew nothing of his actions.
Two days after their release, El Gamal and the children reported to an ICE office in Colorado for a required check-in. Lawyers say ICE detained them again there, told them they were being deported to Egypt and rushed them onto a plane. Their attorneys say the family “were horrified.”
Lawyers filed emergency motions in four federal courts. In emergency rulings, the Texas judge, Fred Biery, and a federal judge in Colorado, Nina Wang, again ordered the government not to deport them. According to the family’s lawyers, the jet carrying them toward the East Coast turned around mid-flight and returned El Gamal and her children to Denver Saturday night.
“They were treated like animals. ICE took children into their custody in violation of a court order and flew them around the country for eight hours. There’s a word for that. It’s kidnapping,” attorney Chris Godshall-Bennett said. “The government’s behavior yesterday was entirely beyond the pale.” He added he is “afraid to let them out of my sight.”
The Department of Homeland Security did not confirm to NPR that it had re-detained the family or directly address claims it violated the Texas judge’s orders. DHS spokeswoman Lauren Bis said in a statement that “Mohammed Soliman is a terrorist responsible for an anti-Semitic firebombing in Boulder. The family received full due process and was issued a final order of removal on December 29, 2025,” and criticized the judge as “this activist judge appointed by Bill Clinton” for releasing the family. Bis said the administration will continue fighting to deport “terrorists and their associates.”
The family arrived in the U.S. on tourist visas in 2022 and applied for asylum before their visas expired, their attorneys say. Their asylum application was pending when Soliman was charged; an immigration judge later denied their request. After the attack, Soliman was charged with federal hate crimes and state attempted murder and remains in custody. The administration said it would investigate whether his family knew of his alleged plans. El Gamal has not been charged in connection with the attack, nor have any of the five children, who range in age from 5 to 18. El Gamal has since divorced Soliman, and the family submitted a second asylum application while in detention.
In a recent interview from the Texas detention center before their release, El Gamal’s oldest daughter, Habiba, told NPR the family’s health and desperation had deteriorated during their 10 months in custody. She said the family had renounced association with Soliman and stopped using his last name, and described herself as “completely broken.”
Godshall-Bennett said he believes the administration’s actions are “not about immigration law… it’s about collectively punishing this family for the actions of Mr. Soliman,” and accused officials of willfully violating the Constitution by disregarding court orders. The family’s lawyers say they will continue fighting to secure the family’s ability to remain in the United States.