A woman and her five children, whose immigration detention of more than 10 months marked the longest family detention under Donald Trumpâs second administration, were released on Thursday hours after a judgeâs order, their lawyer said.
US district judge Fred Biery of the western district of Texas ordered the familyâs release.
Hayam El Gamal and her five children ages five to 18 were taken into federal custody last June after last yearâs firebomb attack in Boulder, Colorado, over which her ex-husband, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, was charged. An 82-year-old woman who was injured in that attack later died.
âThe El Gamal family is free,â Eric Lee, a lawyer for the family detained in Texas, said in a statement.
El Gamal and Habiba Soliman, 18, the eldest child, will have to wear ankle monitors. The family had been detained at the highly controversial Dilley detention center in a remote part of Texas south-west of San Antonio.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), of which the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency is a part, criticized the ruling that ordered the familyâs release, saying it came from an âactivist judgeâ who was âreleasing this terroristâs family onto American streetsâ.
Soliman was arrested over the attack on a gathering that commemorated Israeli hostages held by Hamas militants in Gaza after the 7 October 2023 attack. El Gamal divorced Soliman after his arrest, NBC News reported. She also condemned the attack.
The familyâs legal team said they had no advance knowledge of the suspectâs plans and that the family was detained unlawfully. The government said federal agents were investigating âto what extentâ the family knew about the attack.
The legal team also said the familyâs health deteriorated during their detention and alleged they were denied appropriate medical care.
Lee, the familyâs lawyer, said El Gamal was taken this month to an off-site emergency room after she âbegan experiencing excruciating painâ and that she received a CT scan which showed she had âfluid around the heartâ. The legal team said all five of her children were suffering from depression.
The DHS said the family received medical care and due process.
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