The family of Mohamed Sabry Soliman is being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement today following his arrest in connection with the firebomb attack that injured 12 people on Boulder’s Pearl Street Mall Sunday.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed the family’s detention in a post to X Tuesday afternoon.
“Today the Department of Homeland Security and ICE are taking the family of suspected Boulder, Colorado terrorist, and illegal alien Soliman into ICE custody,” Noem said. “Mohamed’s despicable actions will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, but we’re also investigating to what extent his family knew about this horrific attack if they had any knowledge of it or provided any support to it.”
Federal and state authorities were continuing to investigate but had said Monday that Soliman’s wife and children were cooperative during a search of his home, and no criminal charges are pending against anyone other than Mohamed Soliman. His wife voluntarily turned in a mobile phone Soliman had left behind on Sunday, containing messages for his family. Soliman told police his family was not involved in his actions.
Soliman faces multiple counts of attempted murder and assault, and a federal hate crime count, with more charges likely to follow. He is being held in the Boulder County Jail in lieu of a $10 million bond.
Most of the injured have been treated and were recovering at home as of Monday afternoon. Authorities said Monday that two remained hospitalized, but on Tuesday, UC Health said they were actually treating three people from the attack who remained in the hospital. The patients have requested privacy and their conditions were not released.
Local immigration lawyer Bryce Downer of Novo Legal Group told CPR News that since Soliman applied within the required timeframe for asylum before his tourism visa expired, he was likely “without status” but still legally present in the United States if his asylum application was pending.
“There are individuals for whom we have submitted applications for asylum over 10 years ago and we're still waiting for an interview date,” Downer said.
The immigration status of Soliman’s wife and children is unknown. Once detained, they will likely be sent to a family detention center southwest of San Antonio in the small town of Dilley, Texas. That facility was closed by the Biden administration but recently reopened under President Donald Trump.
Soliman, 45, was born in Egypt, but came to the United States in 2022 from Kuwait where he and his family had been living for 17 years. He arrived on a tourist visa, then requested asylum to remain and that case has been pending. Prior to Sunday, he had no criminal record in the U.S., and he was not on the radar of intelligence officials who investigate terrorism, authorities said Monday.
The Uber rideshare service confirmed that Soliman was formerly an independent contractor for the company. He began driving as a delivery person in the spring of 2023. Local immigration lawyer Bryce Downer of Novo Legal Group told CPR News that since Soliman applied for asylum in September of 2022, he would have a legal right to work in the country 180 days later, making him work-eligible in February 2023, the same month his tourist visa expired.
Uber said in an emailed statement that Soliman met numerous eligibility requirements, including passing a criminal and driving history background check and holding a valid taxpayer ID number indicating authorization to work. They also said he had no concerning feedback while driving on the Uber platform, but his account has been banned and that they have been in touch with law enforcement.
Asylum applications go to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services and are assigned to an asylum officer. Cases can take years to be reviewed.
“There is a backlog because we have fewer asylum officers than we have new cases for asylum. We've also had an increase of applicants for asylum, and that has been significant really for the past 10 years,” Downer said.
Once a case is picked up and if the assigned officer does not approve the application, the applicant is then referred to immigration court for removal or deportation proceedings where they have another attempt to apply for asylum before the immigration court.
Downer said generally in detention situations like this individuals are given an opportunity to request release from detention under bond and have an immigration judge hear their request for asylum or withholding of removal.
“The family’s eligibility for bond or to continue with their asylum claims will depend on whether the government believes that they knew or reasonably should have known about Mohamed’s plan or are otherwise a danger to the security of the United States,” Downer said.
It's not clear whether the family's detention or deportation could impact the criminal proceedings. Depending on judicial rulings and prosecutors' needs, the fact that Soliman's wife found and turned in the phone on which he left messages could require her to appear at any future trials to establish chain of custody should the messages be entered into evidence.
But given Soliman's willingness to admit the crime and describe his year of planning to police in interviews Sunday night, it's not yet clear how much additional evidence will be needed. If convicted, he faces sentences that could effectively keep him locked up for the rest of his life.
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