U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem testifies before the House Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee hearing on oversight of the Department of Homeland Security, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on May 6, 2025.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
Federal immigration agents on Tuesday took into custody the family of Mohamed Soliman, the man accused of attempted murder in the fire attack on demonstrators in Colorado over the weekend, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said.
The White House’s official X account tweeted about the family’s detention and wrote, “THEY COULD BE DEPORTED AS EARLY AS TONIGHT.”
In a subsequent post, the White House said, “Six One-Way Tickets for Mohamed’s Wife and Five Kids. Final Boarding Call Coming Soon.”
Noem said authorities are investigating whether Soliman’s family knew about or supported Sunday’s attack by the 45-year-old Egyptian national in Boulder on a group calling for the release of Israeli hostages by the militant group Hamas.
Soliman is married with five children. The family lives in Colorado Springs.
“Today, @DHSgov and @ICEGov are taking the family of suspected Boulder, Colorado terrorist, and illegal alien, Mohamed Soliman, into ICE custody,” Noem said in her post on X.
Boulder attack suspect Mohamed Sabry Soliman poses for a jail booking photograph after his arrest in Boulder, Colorado, on June 2, 2025.
Boulder Police Department | Via Reuters
“This terrorist will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. 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,” Noem wrote.
“I am continuing to pray for the victims of this attack and their families. Justice will be served.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday had warned, “In light of yesterday’s horrific attack [n Colorado], all terrorists, their family members, and terrorist sympathizers here on a visa should know that under the Trump Administration we will find you, revoke your visa, and deport you.”
Soliman entered the U.S. legally in August 2022 on a visa that is typically issued to tourists, and applied for asylum the next month, according to the Department of Homeland Security, NBC News reported.
The visa expired in February 2023, but Soliman has not exhausted legal efforts to remain in the U.S., according to NBC.
Court documents say Soliman told authorities he had plotted Sunday’s attack for a year, and that he waited to execute it until after his daughter graduated from school.
Soliman allegedly yelled “Free Palestine!” when he attacked the demonstrators with a makeshift flamethrower and Molotov cocktails, sending eight of them to the hospital with burns.
He is charged in state court with multiple counts of attempted murder, assault and possession of an incendiary device. He is being held on $10 million bond in that case.
Soliman is also charged in federal court with a hate crime related to him targeting the group because of their religion or ethnicity.
Soliman told authorities after his arrest that he “wanted them all to die,” according to Colorado Acting U.S. Attorney J. Bishop Grewell.
“He had no regrets, and he would go back and do it again,” Grewell said.
