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Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Family of the Boulder attack suspect is facing deportation. What happens next?
While Mohamed Soliman occupies a cell in Boulder County Jail in Colorado, hundreds of miles away, his wife and five children are also in detention, at the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Soliman, the man charged with attempted murder following an antisemitic firebombing attack Sunday, told detectives that 'no one' knew about his attack plans and 'he never talked to his wife or family about it,' according to the affidavit for his arrest. But despite that admission from the Egyptian national, his family is now facing expedited removal from the United States. Soliman, 45, was born in Egypt but lived in Kuwait for 17 years. He first tried to come to the US in 2005 but was denied a visa, law enforcement sources told CNN. In 2022, he, his wife and their five children, entered the US as non-immigrant visitors and filed for asylum a month later in September 2022. His wife, a network engineer with a pending EB-2 visa, which is available to professionals with advanced degrees, and children were listed as dependents on the application filed in Denver, the Department of Homeland Security and court documents said. In 2023, Soliman received a two-year work authorization that expired in March, according to DHS. Soliman and his wife have two minor sons and three minor daughters ages 4, 4, 8, 15 and 17, family attorney Eric Lee told CNN. Lee is not representing Soliman. Soliman was booked into the Boulder County Jail after his arrest. His family was initially held in Florence, Colorado, about an hour away from their home in Colorado Springs, before they were transferred to a detention facility in Texas. Soliman's family was held 'incommunicado' and didn't have access to legal representation after they were in ICE custody on Tuesday, their lawyers said in court documents. At the time of their detention, their asylum application was still pending, and as a result, the Trump administration can't legally expedite their removal, the documents say. Soliman's family members have not been charged in the attack and on Wednesday evening, a federal judge ordered a halt to the deportation plans made for the family. 'Punishing individuals – including children as young as four-years-old – for the purported actions of their relatives is a feature of medieval justice systems or police state dictatorships, not democracies,' Lee said in a statement to CNN on Wednesday. The family's detention has experts questioning the legality of the family's detention and visa revocation, calling it unprecedented, even at a time where migrant detentions in courthouse hallways, college campuses, office buildings and during traffic stops across the country are increasing at an exponential rate under significant pressure from the Trump administration, which is tightening the reins on immigration. 'A permanent resident and a non-permanent resident, somebody on let's say an H-1B visa or some other type of temporary visa … has due process rights,' David Leopold, the former president and general counsel of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said at a news briefing with immigrant rights advocates in mid-March. 'Everybody is covered by the United States Constitution. Everybody's protected by the United States Constitution inside the United States.' However, immigrants' presence in the US is generally considered a 'privilege' rather than a right and can be revoked for certain reasons laid out in federal law, such as a serious crime. Once an asylum application is submitted, it's not uncommon for processing to take years before reaching a decision, César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, a law professor at Ohio State University told CNN, adding that Soliman and his family were within their rights to continue living in the US with a pending application. It is common however, for ICE to begin investigating one person and realize their family, friends or roommates may also have a questionable immigration status, García Hernández said. 'It's another matter entirely, to take the conduct of one individual and then ascribe responsibility on the family, on their family members by immediately detaining them and publicly saying that the goal is to deport them,' he said. Soliman's wife, who CNN is not naming at this time, was 'shocked' when she learned her husband had been arrested, her lawyers said in court records obtained by CNN. She said she and their five children should not be held responsible for her husband's crimes. 'Arrest first, investigate later, that is not the way that responsible law enforcement officers work,' Ben Johnson, executive director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told CNN. The burden of proof on ICE and DHS is to assess whether the family is a security risk or a threat to the community, Johnson said, and that should be done through meticulous investigation. During the attack, Soliman shouted 'Free Palestine,' according to the FBI and later told authorities that 'he wanted to kill all Zionist people and wished they were all dead,' an affidavit said. 'He's confessed to a horrible crime, and he is obviously a threat to public safety,' Johnson said. 'Taking action against him makes all the sense in the world.' After his arrest, Soliman's wife brought an iPhone 14 she said belonged to him to the Colorado Springs police office, the affidavit said. 'I don't know where this allegation or belief that somehow this man's family is responsible or guilty of the crimes of their father or husband (comes from),' Johnson said. 'To arrest children without having done a thorough investigation, this feels much more like a publicity stunt than a law enforcement action.' As Soliman's wife and children wait for more information about their future, their attorneys are fighting to keep the family in the US. In his order, Judge Gordon P. Gallagher of the US District Court in Colorado wrote, 'Defendants SHALL NOT REMOVE,' Soliman's wife and her children from the District of Colorado or the United States 'unless or until this Court or the Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit vacates this order.' Soliman appeared in state court Monday and is expected to appear in state court again Thursday and in federal court Friday. CNN has reached out to his attorney for comment. Aside from investigating Soliman for any potential mental health issues, investigators are reviewing a notebook he left behind that contains a manifesto written in English with certain lines written in Arabic, according to a law enforcement source, noting police recovered the notebook after Soliman told them where to find it. Investigators are also reviewing videos Soliman recorded of himself on his phone, both in English and Arabic, the source said. On the heels of Soliman's actions, the White House announced a new travel ban on citizens from a dozen nations as part of the first Trump administration's promise to clamp down on entries from certain countries and visa overstays — which have garnered renewed scrutiny in the attack's aftermath. President Donald Trump made the final call after the antisemitic attack, according to a White House official. The president said in a video posted Wednesday that new countries could be added to the travel ban as 'threats emerge around the world,' although Egypt, where the Soliman family is from, was not on the list. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez, Eric Levenson and Danya Gainor contributed to this report.
CNN
4 days ago
- Politics
- CNN
Family of the Boulder attack suspect is facing deportation. What happens next?
ImmigrationFacebookTweetLink Follow While Mohamed Soliman occupies a cell in Boulder County Jail in Colorado, hundreds of miles away, his wife and five children are also in detention, at the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Soliman, the man charged with attempted murder following an antisemitic firebombing attack Sunday, told detectives that 'no one' knew about his attack plans and 'he never talked to his wife or family about it,' according to the affidavit for his arrest. But despite that admission from the Egyptian national, his family is now facing expedited removal from the United States. Soliman, 45, was born in Egypt but lived in Kuwait for 17 years. He first tried to come to the US in 2005 but was denied a visa, law enforcement sources told CNN. In 2022, he, his wife and their five children, entered the US as non-immigrant visitors and filed for asylum a month later in September 2022. His wife, a network engineer with a pending EB-2 visa, which is available to professionals with advanced degrees, and children were listed as dependents on the application filed in Denver, the Department of Homeland Security and court documents said. In 2023, Soliman received a two-year work authorization that expired in March, according to DHS. Soliman and his wife have two minor sons and three minor daughters ages 4, 4, 8, 15 and 17, family attorney Eric Lee told CNN. Lee is not representing Soliman. Soliman was booked into the Boulder County Jail after his arrest. His family was initially held in Florence, Colorado, about an hour away from their home in Colorado Springs, before they were transferred to a detention facility in Texas. Soliman's family was held 'incommunicado' and didn't have access to legal representation after they were in ICE custody on Tuesday, their lawyers said in court documents. At the time of their detention, their asylum application was still pending, and as a result, the Trump administration can't legally expedite their removal, the documents say. Soliman's family members have not been charged in the attack and on Wednesday evening, a federal judge ordered a halt to the deportation plans made for the family. 'Punishing individuals – including children as young as four-years-old – for the purported actions of their relatives is a feature of medieval justice systems or police state dictatorships, not democracies,' Lee said in a statement to CNN on Wednesday. The family's detention has experts questioning the legality of the family's detention and visa revocation, calling it unprecedented, even at a time where migrant detentions in courthouse hallways, college campuses, office buildings and during traffic stops across the country are increasing at an exponential rate under significant pressure from the Trump administration, which is tightening the reins on immigration. 'A permanent resident and a non-permanent resident, somebody on let's say an H-1B visa or some other type of temporary visa … has due process rights,' David Leopold, the former president and general counsel of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said at a news briefing with immigrant rights advocates in mid-March. 'Everybody is covered by the United States Constitution. Everybody's protected by the United States Constitution inside the United States.' However, immigrants' presence in the US is generally considered a 'privilege' rather than a right and can be revoked for certain reasons laid out in federal law, such as a serious crime. Once an asylum application is submitted, it's not uncommon for processing to take years before reaching a decision, César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, a law professor at Ohio State University told CNN, adding that Soliman and his family were within their rights to continue living in the US with a pending application. It is common however, for ICE to begin investigating one person and realize their family, friends or roommates may also have a questionable immigration status, García Hernández said. 'It's another matter entirely, to take the conduct of one individual and then ascribe responsibility on the family, on their family members by immediately detaining them and publicly saying that the goal is to deport them,' he said. Soliman's wife, who CNN is not naming at this time, was 'shocked' when she learned her husband had been arrested, her lawyers said in court records obtained by CNN. She said she and their five children should not be held responsible for her husband's crimes. 'Arrest first, investigate later, that is not the way that responsible law enforcement officers work,' Ben Johnson, executive director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told CNN. The burden of proof on ICE and DHS is to assess whether the family is a security risk or a threat to the community, Johnson said, and that should be done through meticulous investigation. During the attack, Soliman shouted 'Free Palestine,' according to the FBI and later told authorities that 'he wanted to kill all Zionist people and wished they were all dead,' an affidavit said. 'He's confessed to a horrible crime, and he is obviously a threat to public safety,' Johnson said. 'Taking action against him makes all the sense in the world.' After his arrest, Soliman's wife brought an iPhone 14 she said belonged to him to the Colorado Springs police office, the affidavit said. 'I don't know where this allegation or belief that somehow this man's family is responsible or guilty of the crimes of their father or husband (comes from),' Johnson said. 'To arrest children without having done a thorough investigation, this feels much more like a publicity stunt than a law enforcement action.' As Soliman's wife and children wait for more information about their future, their attorneys are fighting to keep the family in the US. In his order, Judge Gordon P. Gallagher of the US District Court in Colorado wrote, 'Defendants SHALL NOT REMOVE,' Soliman's wife and her children from the District of Colorado or the United States 'unless or until this Court or the Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit vacates this order.' Soliman appeared in state court Monday and is expected to appear in state court again Thursday and in federal court Friday. CNN has reached out to his attorney for comment. Aside from investigating Soliman for any potential mental health issues, investigators are reviewing a notebook he left behind that contains a manifesto written in English with certain lines written in Arabic, according to a law enforcement source, noting police recovered the notebook after Soliman told them where to find it. Investigators are also reviewing videos Soliman recorded of himself on his phone, both in English and Arabic, the source said. On the heels of Soliman's actions, the White House announced a new travel ban on citizens from a dozen nations as part of the first Trump administration's promise to clamp down on entries from certain countries and visa overstays — which have garnered renewed scrutiny in the attack's aftermath. President Donald Trump made the final call after the antisemitic attack, according to a White House official. The president said in a video posted Wednesday that new countries could be added to the travel ban as 'threats emerge around the world,' although Egypt, where the Soliman family is from, was not on the list. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez, Eric Levenson and Danya Gainor contributed to this report.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Judge temporarily halts deportation of Boulder suspect's family
June 4 (UPI) -- A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked the deportation of family members of the Egyptian national charged in the anti-Semitic attack in Boulder, Colo. In the U.S. District Court in Denver, Judge Gordon P. Gallagher directed the federal government to stop the deportation proceedings of Mohamed Soliman's 41-year-old wife, Hayem El Gamal, and their five children. On Tuesday, they were taken into U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in Florence, Colo., about 40 miles from their home in Colorado Springs. Federal immigration records show they are being held at a federal detention center in Dilley, Texas, designed to house families with minors, CBS News reported. The White House posted Tuesday on X: "THEY COULD BE DEPORTED AS EARLY AS TONIGHT." "Defendants SHALL NOT REMOVE" the five undocumented migrants from Colorado or the United States "unless or until this Court or the Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit vacates this order," Gallagher wrote in his order. "Moreover, the Court finds that deportation without process could work irreparable harm and an order must (be) issue(d) without notice due to the urgency this situation presents." He set a hearing for June 13 for a request on a temporary restraining order. The Washington Post reported the family was held "incommunicado and without access to a lawyer" after they were placed in ICE custody on Tuesday, their lawyers said in court records. By applying for asylum, the Trump administration can't legally speed up their deportation, the legal representative said. "Punishing individuals - including children as young as four-years-old - for the purported actions of their relatives is a feature of medieval justice systems or police state dictatorships, not democracies," family attorney Eric Lee said Wednesday in a statement to CNN. "The detention and attempted removal of this family is an assault on core democratic principles and must provoke widespread opposition in the population, immigrant and non-immigrant alike." In the court filing obtained by The New York Times, the suspect's wife "was shocked to learn" that her husband "was arrested for having committed a violent act against a peaceful gathering of individuals commemorating Israeli hostages." After his arrest, Soliman told detectives "no one" knew about his attack plans," including his wife or children, according to the affidavit for his arrest filed Sunday. "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. I am continuing to pray for the victims of this attack and their families. Justice will be served," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted on X on Tuesday. The children are an 18-year-old daughter, two girls and two boys. They are Egyptian citizens, according to the Department of Homeland Security. El Gamal, 41, is a network engineer with a pending EB-2 visa for professionals with advanced degrees. The eldest daughter, identified as Habiba Soliman, recently graduated from high school in Colorado Springs. An article in the Colorado Springs Gazette on April 25 said she had won a scholarship and planned to study medicine. In August 2022, they were initially granted entry until February 2023, DHS said in a Wednesday statement. Soliman applied for asylum in September 2022 in Denver, the agency said. In 2023, Soliman received a two-year work authorization that expired in March, a DHS official told CNN. Authorities say Soliman yelled "Free Palestine" and used a flamethrower to ignite molotov cocktails and threw them into the crowd where a pro-Israeli group, Run for Their Lives, was seeking the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza.
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First Post
25-05-2025
- First Post
Kash Patel lauds FBI for nabbing 2 Pakistanis involved in visa fraud
Pakistani nationals Abdul Hadi Murshid, 39, and Muhammad Salman Nasir, 35, were arrested by FBI for running a years-long scam involving fake job offers and visa fraud read more Two Pakistani men living in Texas, Abdul Hadi Murshid, 39, and Muhammad Salman Nasir, 35, have been arrested for running a years-long scam involving fake job offers and visa fraud, FBI Director Kash Patel has revealed. They worked with a Texas law firm and a company called Reliable Ventures Inc., and now face charges like visa fraud, conspiracy, money laundering, and racketeering. Murshid is also accused of trying to illegally gain US citizenship. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'Major arrests out of @FBIDallas. Abdul Hadi Murshid and Muhammad Salman Nasir, two individuals out of Texas who allegedly oversaw and operated a criminal enterprise circumventing American immigration laws by selling fraudulent visa applications,' wrote Kash Patel on X. 'Well done to our FBI teams and partners in the investigation,' he added. Major arrests out of @FBIDallas. Abdul Hadi Murshid and Muhammad Salman Nasir — two individuals out of Texas who allegedly oversaw and operated a criminal enterprise circumventing American immigration laws by selling fraudulent visa applications. Well done to our FBI teams and… — FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) May 24, 2025 The two men allegedly made money by helping foreigners, called 'visa seekers,' enter and stay in the US illegally. They filed fake visa applications, lied about job offers, and misused visa programs like EB-2, EB-3, and H-1B. To make the jobs seem real, they placed fake ads in newspapers, pretending to offer jobs to Americans as required by the US Department of Labour. After getting approval, they applied for green cards for the visa seekers. They also took money from these visa seekers and returned part of it as fake salaries to make the jobs look legitimate. 'These defendants are charged with engaging in extensive measures to hide a massive, multi-year, immigration fraud scheme through which they reaped substantial personal financial gain,' said Acting US Attorney Chad E Meacham, adding that pursuing criminal charges was 'top priority.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge R Joseph Rothrock added, 'The defendants allegedly oversaw an international criminal enterprise for years that repeatedly undermined our nation's immigration laws. These laws are necessary to protect national security and safeguard the lawful immigration process.' Murshid and Nasir appeared in court on May 23, and the government wants them held in custody until their trial. A hearing is scheduled for May 30. If found guilty, they could face up to 20 years in prison, and Murshid could lose his chance at US citizenship.
Hindustan Times
25-05-2025
- Hindustan Times
Who are Abdul Murshid and Muhammad Nasir? Pakistani nationals in Texas held for visa fraud in US, Kash Patel responds
Two Texas residents, who are originally from Pakistan, were indicted on May 23 for running a years-long visa fraud operation. According to federal prosecutors, 39-year-old Abdul Hadi Murshid and 35-year-old Muhammad Salman Nasir's operation exploited US immigration programs for personal profit. The duo, along with the Law Offices of D. Robert Jones PLLC and Reliable Ventures, Inc., are now reportedly facing charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States, visa fraud, money laundering, and and Nasir were also charged with unlawfully obtaining and attempting to obtain US citizenship, CBS News reported. FBI Director Kash Patel lauded theFBI teams and partners in the investigation for nabbing the duo. He wrote in an X post, 'Major arrests out of @FBIDallas. Abdul Hadi Murshid and Muhammad Salman Nasir — two individuals out of Texas who allegedly oversaw and operated a criminal enterprise circumventing American immigration laws by selling fraudulent visa applications.' According to an indictment, Murshid and Nasirexploited the EB-2, EB-3, and H-1B visa programs. 'Specifically, the defendants caused classified advertisements to be placed in a daily periodical for non-existent jobs," the United States Attorney's office said. 'These advertisements were placed in order to satisfy a Department of Labor ('DOL') requirement to offer the position to United States citizens before hiring foreign nationals. Once they received the fraudulently obtained certification for from the Department of Labor, the defendants filed a petition to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services ('USCIS') to obtain an immigrant visa for the visa seekers.' The statement added, 'At the time the petitions were submitted, the defendants also submitted an application for legal permanent residence so that the visa seekers could also obtain a green card. According to the indictment, to make the non-existent jobs look legitimate, the defendants received payment from visa seekers, then returned a portion of the money back to the visa seekers as purported payroll.' Murshid and Nasir face up to 20years in federal prison if convicted. Murshid even faces denaturalization if he ends up being convicted of unlawfully obtaining and attempting to obtain his United States citizenship. 'These defendants are charged with engaging in extensive measures to hide a massive, multi-year, immigration fraud scheme through which they reaped substantial personal financial gain,' said Acting U.S. Attorney Chad E. Meacham. 'Pursuing criminal charges to deter and punish this type of flagrant disregard for the lawful immigration process is a top priority of this Office.' 'The defendants allegedly oversaw an international criminal enterprise for years that repeatedly undermined our nation's immigration laws,' FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock said. On Friday, May 23, Murshid and Nasir appeared before US Magistrate Judge Rebecca Rutherford. A detention hearing before US Magistrate Judge Brian McKay has been scheduled for May 20. While the probe was conducted by the FBI, the case is being prosecuted by assistant U.S. Attorneys Ted Hocter, Tiffany H. Eggers, and Jongwoo Chung. Significant assistance to the probe was provided by the Department of Homeland Security - Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Department of State Diplomatic Security Service, and the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General.
