A federal judge appointed by President Joe Biden has temporarily blocked the deportation of the wife and five children of Mohamed Sabry Soliman—the Egyptian national accused of carrying out a brutal firebombing attack on a pro-Israel rally in Boulder, Colorado. The decision has sparked outrage as the suspect’s family, who entered the U.S. less than three years ago, now remains in legal limbo.
Soliman, 45, allegedly hurled Molotov cocktails into a peaceful crowd in support of Israeli hostages, injuring at least 15 people. While officials say there’s no current evidence that his family was involved in the attack, immigration authorities had planned to expedite their removal under national security protocols.
That plan came to a halt after Judge Gordon P. Gallagher issued a temporary restraining order, claiming the deportation could cause “irreparable harm” to the family without proper legal proceedings. Gallagher’s ruling now forces the Department of Homeland Security to pause deportation efforts until a June 13 hearing, where the court will further consider the family’s asylum claims.
BREAKING: Colorado federal judge Gordon Gallagher, a Biden appointee, has issued an order blocking the Trump administration from deporting the wife and five children of Boulder terror suspect Mohamed Soliman. pic.twitter.com/Lo8R1Yp19E
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) June 4, 2025
The family arrived in the U.S. in August 2022 and applied for asylum the following month—a case that remains unresolved. Federal officials have argued the children and wife should be removed due to their connection to Soliman, whom they consider a dangerous threat to public safety.
Critics blasted the judge’s ruling as yet another example of political leniency endangering national security. “This is exactly the kind of weakness that puts American families at risk,” said one lawmaker familiar with the case. “If someone firebombed a crowd of protesters in any other context, this family would already be gone. But because it was a pro-Israel event, we see a double standard at play.”
Supporters of the family argue that collective punishment has no place in the justice system and that the deportation order bypassed due process. Still, the timing of the asylum claim and the family’s proximity to the attack raise serious questions.
As legal proceedings move forward, the Biden administration is once again under fire for its immigration priorities—caught between claims of humanitarian concern and growing public demand for accountability and national security.
