Family of Boulder firebombing suspect released in Colorado, now waiting for next move

The ex-wife of the Boulder firebombing attack suspect and their five children are staying in Colorado for now, following a weekend in which the Department of Homeland Security moved to deport the family.

Hayam el Gamal and her five children, including 5-year-old twins, were taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as they appeared for a required check-in only hours after arriving back in the state from a Texas detention facility. The family was then loaded onto a plane bound for Michigan. After it took off from Michigan and headed to New Jersey, an emergency order from a judge prompted officials to turn the plane around and return to Colorado, where the family was released from custody for the second time in two days.

"I think our whole community feels a suspicion and a deep sense of anxiety still, seeing what happened on Saturday, and what really has transpired this whole last week, has been the biggest rollercoaster of emotions," said Emily Schilperoort, a member of a group based in Colorado Springs that is supporting the family.

The family has informed ICE of their whereabouts, and the mother and eldest daughter, Habiba, are wearing GPS monitoring devices. But supporters are not sharing their location with the public for fear of threats to the family.

Supporters and attorneys for the family say Hayam el Gamal has medical issues that include fluid around the heart and a lump on her chest that they claim were not properly treated while in ICE custody in Texas. The family had been held at the detention center in Dilley, Texas, since the days following the firebombing attack in Boulder.

El Gamal has since divorced the children's father, Mohammed Soliman, whose family has said spent little time at home before the incident and was often withdrawn. An FBI agent testified in a hearing for Mohammed Soliman last year that there's no indication the family had prior knowledge of the attack on demonstrators in Boulder in support of the hostages taken in the October 7, 2023, attacks in Israel.

"We also recognize that the trauma that they've experienced and all of what they've gone through in the last week," said Schilperoort, noting that they were trying to give the family space and time to recover.

"They're home, and they're happy as much as you can from a traumatic event, and the family is resting," said Eric Lee, an attorney for the family.

DHS on Monday replied to emailed questions with the same statement it sent over the weekend.

"The family received full due process and was issued a final order of removal on December 29, 2025. They appealed the judge's decision. The board of appeals upheld the final order of removal on April 22, 2026. Despite receiving full due process, this activist judge appointed by Bill Clinton is releasing this terrorist's family onto American streets AGAIN," said Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis.

Lawyers for El Gamal and her children claim the Board of Immigration Appeals made its April 22 decision after political pressure from the White House.

"So the Board of Immigration Appeals, in my understanding, upheld the validity of a deportation order for them, while the District Court was still deciding the legality of their detention," explained Violeta Raquel Chapin, who teaches both criminal and immigration law as associate dean and clinical professor of law at the University of Colorado Law School in Boulder. 

The family said they were in the process of applying for asylum and that they had work permits and Social Security numbers. But the government maintains the family no longer has permission to stay in the country.

A judge in a Texas federal district court released them after a recommendation from a magistrate earlier in the week.

"I think it was very clear under the law that they should not be detained. And that's what the district court judge decided and ordered their release. They do have pending asylum claims, for which they have the right to be heard, under our laws and our regulations," said Chapin.

"They have due process rights to have those asylum claims be heard," she continued. "And for them to be able to present evidence about why they need asylum, for the government, then, to present their evidence about why they should not be granted asylum, it has to be done in a court of law, because those are the rules that we have, right? Imperfect though they may be, those are the rules. Chaos ensues when everybody stops following the rules."

Chapin said that there is a statute that allows the government to detain the spouse and the children of somebody who is suspected of terrorist activity.

"But in this case, there's an exception to that if they find that the family knew nothing about it, and here there's ample evidence to show that the family had no idea that their dad was planning this," Chapin said.

That isn't the only exception, she explained.

"If the family renounces the attack, then that's also another exception. They wouldn't be detained. And the family immediately renounced the attack," said Chapin. "They condemned what their father allegedly did immediately afterward. And so, all of those exemptions and arguments and the law were litigated in a court of law, and again, the judge found that those did not apply to the family and children."

DHS insists it will continue to pursue deportation.

"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," said Bis.

Lawyers for the El Gamal family are filing an appeal regarding the government's detention attempt and removal in a circuit court. Chapin thinks there's a chance it could go to the Supreme Court.

Schilperoort and several other women have banded together as "Neighbors of Faith and Conviction," stating that their support is driven by their beliefs.

"We were responding to what was happening to this family from a place of Christian faith and conviction, that this is not okay," said Schilperoort.

As part of their efforts to assist the family, Schilperoort visited El Gamal in the Family Detention Center in Dilley, about ten days ago. She said el Gamal wondered, 'Why is the government doing this to us? Like, what have we done? Like, we want to cooperate. We haven't done anything wrong.'

"And to see the trauma that has been inflicted on this dear family is something that, again, has forever changed me," said Schilperoort.