Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations have arrested the family of the lead suspect in the Boulder, Colorado attack, according Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Mohamed Soliman’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 attack, if they had any knowledge of it, or if they provided support to it,” Noem said in a video on X Tuesday.
Fox New’s Bill Melugin first reported that Soliman’s wife and all five children are in federal custody.
“I’m being told the family is being processed for expedited removal, which allows rapid deportation without a hearing before an immigration court/judge,” Melugin, Fox News national correspondent, said.
Soliman’s wife and five children were in the U.S. on visa’s that the State Department has revoked, according to the New York Post. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday that “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 lived in Colorado Springs and reportedly spent over a year planning the attack that has now landed him in jail facing federal hate crime charges.
Soliman, 45, used a makeshift flamethrower and incendiary device as he shouted, “Free Palestine,” and attacked a group of people in Boulder who were marching in solidarity with the Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
Soliman arrived at Los Angeles International Airport on Aug. 27, 2022 and was authorized to stay in the U.S. until Feb. 26, 2023 but overstayed his visa. In September 2022, Fox News reports Soliman “filed some sort of claim with [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services], potentially an asylum claim.” On March 29, 2023, the Biden administration gave him work authorization, which expired on March 28, 2025.
“There is no room in the United States for the rest of the world’s terrorist sympathizers,” Noem wrote in a separate post on X Tuesday. “Anyone who thinks they can come to America and hide behind the First Amendment to advocate for antisemitic violence and terrorism – think again. You are not welcome here. We will find you, deport you, and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.”
“Our prayers are with the victims, families, and people of Boulder, Colorado. This evil has to stop now,” Noem said.
