Boulder suspect's daughter dreamed of studying medicine. Now she faces deportation.

USA Today

3 days ago

Boulder suspect's daughter dreamed of studying medicine. Now she faces deportation. Habiba Soliman moved to the U.S. hoping to study medicine. Then her father Mohamed Soliman was charged with a hate crime in an attack aimed at peaceful Jewish demonstrators.
Show Caption
Hide Caption
Who is Boulder, Colorado, terror suspect Mohamed Soliman?
Authorities say 45-year-old Mohamed Soliman attacked a pro-Israel event in Boulder. Here's what to know about the Colorado suspect .
She moved to the United States with a dream of studying medicine to transform lives. Then her father was charged with attempting to take them in connection with a fiery assault on pro-Jewish protesters in Boulder, Colorado.
Now Habiba Soliman, daughter of Boulder attack suspect Mohamed Sabry Soliman, faces deportation along with the rest of her family.
The family, originally from Egypt, moved to the U.S. from Kuwait. Habiba Soliman recently graduated from high school, but her aspirations were upended when her 45-year-old father was charged with a federal hate crime and 16 counts of attempted murder related to the attack that left a dozen people burned, including an 88-year-old Holocaust survivor. Two remain hospitalized.
Her life had been headed in a positive direction before the attack on the weekly demonstration in support of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, which came three days after her high school graduation. A federal affidavit says the elder Soliman told investigators he planned the attack for a year and waited for his daughter to graduate before carrying out the plot.
Prior to the attack, Habiba Soliman had written about her hope of accomplishing great things in the U.S.
'Coming to the USA has fundamentally changed me,' she wrote in an application for a Colorado Springs Gazette 'Best and Brightest' scholarship. 'I learned to adapt to new things even if it was hard. I learned to work under pressure and improve rapidly in a very short amount of time. Most importantly, I came to appreciate that family is the unchanging support.'
She won the scholarship and was profiled in the Colorado newspaper where she shared her dream of a "future medical career" in the U.S.
Instead, the White House said on X on Tuesday that Mohamed Soliman's wife and five children 'could be deported by tonight.' FBI and police officials said Monday the family has cooperated with investigators.
The family is in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, according to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and could not be reached for comment."This terrorist will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,'' Noem said on the X platform. "We are investigating to what extent his family knew about this heinous attack, if they had knowledge of it, or if they provided support to it.''
Why did she want to pursue medicine?
Habiba Soliman's interest in medicine goes back to her father, according to a Colorado Springs Gazette profile celebrating her winning one of the outlet's "Best and Brightest" senior class scholarships.
She told the outlet that she wanted to study medicine after seeing how her father regained the ability to walk after a difficult surgery. She described the result as 'magic.'
Moving to the U.S. from Kuwait provided her new opportunities to pursue her dream. Her favorite activity was volunteering at a local hospital which would help in a 'future medical career,' she wrote in her scholarship application.
Representatives at the hospital, UCHealth, did not immediately respond to requests for information on how long she volunteered or what her tasks were.
'Best and Brightest'
Soliman was among 20 winners of the Best and Brightest scholarship, according to Christopher P. Reen, chair of the board of Gazette Charities.
'Recipients were selected through a highly competitive process that evaluated academic excellence, leadership, character, and a strong commitment to community service - her application and credentials met the program requirements,' Reen said to USA TODAY. 'However, outside of the program and the criteria, we cannot speak on behalf of specific scholars.'
The scholarship affords winners a chance to have their academic excellence and future aspirations recognized in the local paper. Soliman was part of the 34th class of winners, according to the Gazette.
Applicants need to have a minimum 2.5 GPA, display a commitment to community and have a vision for their future, according to the 2025 application.
She was the only winner from her high school, the Thomas MacLaren School, an award-winning charter school founded in 2009. Nearly 950 students attend the Kindergarten through 12th grade school, according to the website.
Overcoming challenges
Among essay questions Best and Brightest applicants answer is a 'defining moment' prompt: 'What obstacle(s) have you faced and what did you learn from that experience?'
Habiba Soliman wrote about how difficult it was to move to the U.S. from Kuwait. According to federal officials, Mohamed Soliman entered the United States in late 2022 on a tourist visa, and later requested asylum. It's unclear if they entered the country together.
According to the Gazette, she at least joined MacLaren as a sophomore, a year which she described as a disaster where she had no friends as she struggled to learn English.
Later she went on to start an Arabic club at the school and also made an effort to welcome new students, according to the Gazette.
Madalyn Rilling, a MacLaren teacher who wrote a letter of recommendation for Soliman, said the immigrant student had quickly grown into a class leader through her thoughtful questions.
'(Habiba's) English skills have improved to a fluent level and she has become an even more advanced student,' Rilling wrote.
Rilling and other MacLaren representatives did not respond to requests for comment.
Facing deportation
The White House has taken to X to highlight the potential repercussions Mohamed Soliman's wife and five children potentially face for his actions.
'Six One-Way Tickets for Mohamed's Wife and Five Kids. Final Boarding Call Coming Soon,' the White House said in a post on the Elon Musk platform.
The family is not the first connected to a suspected criminal to face deportation under the administration of President Donald Trump.
Three Venezuelans tied to the man who killed 22-year-old University of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley were also arrested and slated to be deported after Trump came into office in 2025.
Jose Antonio Ibarra was convicted in 2024 of murdering Riley and sentenced to life in prison. His brothers Diego Jose and Argenis as well as his former roommate Rosbeli Flores-Bello were all imprisoned in 2024 for possessing false immigration documents.
But shortly after coming into office, Trump's Department of Justice announced that they would be deported.
Argenis Ibarra and Flores-Bello were immediately placed into Immigrations and Customs Enforcement custody following the March 19 announcement. Diego Ibarra is expected to be turned over to immigration officials following completion of a 48-month federal prison sentence.
Contributing: Trevor Hughes, John Bacon and Jorge L. Ortiz.