{"id":759407,"date":"2026-04-28T17:15:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T17:15:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/759407\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T17:15:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T17:15:23","slug":"ice-releases-el-gamal-family-after-re-arresting-mother-and-5-children-attorney-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/759407\/","title":{"rendered":"ICE releases El Gamal family after re-arresting mother and 5 children, attorney says"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"rawingrawing created by a member of Hayam El Gamal\u2019s family. The family was re-arrested on Saturday after being freed on April 23. Credit: Artwork provided by attorneys for the El Gamal family<\/p>\n

Federal immigration authorities have released an Egyptian family that they had re-detained earlier Saturday, an attorney announced<\/a> just after midnight.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The move came hours after a flight carrying the mother, Hayam El Gamal, and her five children to Michigan late Saturday abruptly turned around, following a Texas judge\u2019s ruling that they should remain in the U.S. pending further litigation. The El Gamal family is believed to be the longest held at the controversial South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley.<\/p>\n

The release capped a dizzying series of events this week that attorneys said added to ongoing questions over the executive branch\u2019s power compared to the judiciary when it comes to President Donald Trump\u2019s purview of immigration and his administration\u2019s push for expanded deportations.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA dark moment in US history,\u201d the family\u2019s attorney, Michigan-based Eric Lee, posted<\/a> on X about what led up to their recent release.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The family was initially detained last June after the father, who they said is estranged from them, was charged with hate crimes related to a 2025 attack in Colorado. The mother and children have not been charged with any crimes, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement first released<\/a> them on Thursday.<\/p>\n

U.S. District Court Judge Fred Biery<\/a> in San Antonio on Saturday ruled that the family should not immediately be deported after immigration agents suddenly re-arrested the mother and her children hours earlier. A second order by a federal judge in Colorado was issued Saturday evening, reiterating that the family should not be deported.<\/p>\n

The rulings came as the family was on a plane to Michigan, from where the government ostensibly planned to quickly deport them to Egypt, where their attorneys said the mother and her children fear persecution.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The plane \u201cconstitutionally cannot be allowed to take off,\u201d Lee posted<\/a> on X Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n

It would not have been the first time that Trump\u2019s administration deported immigrants after federal judges ordered against<\/a> their removal. Among the most well-known cases is that of Kilmar Abrego Garcia<\/a> of El Salvador, who was living in Maryland before he was mistakenly sent to a notorious mega-prison in that Central American country last year despite an earlier U.S. court order barring Abrego Garcia\u2019s deportation. His case spurred global criticism, although he has since returned to the U.S., as litigation<\/a> in his case is ongoing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Biery ruled hours after the family\u2019s re-detention Saturday that given the emergency appeal by lawyers, the family\u2019s deportation to Egypt should be paused. The Texas judge agreed with his own previous ruling, <\/a>as well as one by U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Chestney<\/a>, that the family \u2014 which includes 5-year-old twins who have been held at Dilley for more than 10 months \u2014 should be freed while they await an immigration judge\u2019s decision on their asylum case.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The family received widespread attention after the mother and her children earlier this year began publicly raising alarms<\/a> about the treatment at the facility, including medical neglect, rotting food, impotable water, and disrespect for their Muslim faith. Earlier this month, lawyers said that the mother was rushed<\/a> to the emergency room after months of suffering from an unidentified bump, which she feared may be cancerous due to her family history and possibly heightened by the lack of medical care at the detention center.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In an emergency request to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Saturday, the El Gamal\u2019s\u00a0 attorneys argued that halting their immediate deportation is necessary in part because of the \u201chighly irregular actions that the government has taken\u201d against the family since they were detained last year. The attorneys said that the family was re-arrested by ICE officials at their first check-in since their first release Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The family\u2019s sudden re-detention ignited widespread criticism by advocates and some congressional Democrats.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is outrageous and undermines the rights of every American,\u201d U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, an Austin Democrat, posted<\/a> on X. He noted that if the administration can \u201cignore a court order to go after this family, anyone could be next.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Department of Homeland Security did not directly address questions about the family\u2019s rearrest on Saturday. However, in a statement attributed to Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis, the department reiterated that the family received due process \u2014 an account that has been disputed by the family\u2019s attorneys and a Houston Chronicle report<\/a> this month citing previous judicial decisions.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder President Trump, DHS will continue to fight for the removal of those who have no right to be in our country\u2014especially terrorists and their associates,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are confident the courts will ultimately vindicate us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The El Gamal family, who came to the U.S. on a tourist visa in 2022 and later applied for asylum, had been detained since June after the father, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, was charged<\/a> with attacking mostly Jewish protesters in Boulder, Colorado, accused of throwing Molotov cocktails at demonstrators supporting Israeli hostages. He allegedly wounded at least 29 people and an 82-year-old woman died from her injuries. The father, who pleaded not guilty, remains in federal custody on more than 100 charges related to the incident.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s administration, shortly after the family was arrested last June, publicized the case, promising<\/a> \u201cSix One-Way Tickets for Mohamed\u2019s Wife and Five Kids. Final Boarding Call Coming Soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

His wife, who met her husband in an arranged marriage when she was young, and her children have not been charged with any crimes. They have repeatedly maintained that they did not know about Soliman\u2019s plans and had an estranged relationship with him. The family has since disavowed the father and is no longer in contact with him, their attorney said, and his wife has filed for divorce.<\/p>\n

The family\u2019s case went viral in March after their lawyers shared<\/a> heartbreaking accounts in the children\u2019s own words and drawings of the harm they said they were suffering at Dilley.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been here for nine months. I really miss playing with my toys and my watch,\u201d wrote the 9-year-old in accounts<\/a> first shared with the Texas Tribune. \u201cPlease get us out of here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cImagine being punished for something that you didn\u2019t do, something you would never support, and then being trapped in detention for months,\u201d wrote 18-year-old Habiba El Gamal, the family\u2019s eldest daughter. \u201cDespite having overwhelming evidence to prove our innocence, the truth is ignored.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alex Nguyen and Colleen DeGuzman contributed to this story.<\/p>\n

This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Federal\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tA federal plane carrying the family to Michigan was reportedly on its way back to Colorado after a Texas federal judge ordered a halt to their deportation following his ruling that the family be released.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Family\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tThe El Gamal family\u2019s attorneys say the mother is now seeking medical care she was denied while held for months in the prison camp near San Antonio.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Judge\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tAfter nearly a year in the San Antonio-area prison camp, the family\u2019s attorney says they\u2019re the longest-detained immigrant family in the United States.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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