An Egyptian mother and her five children spent mere days outside detention before federal immigration agents swept them back into custody on Saturday, just 72 hours after a federal judge had ordered their release from a Texas facility.
Hayam El Gamal and her five children were placed on a private jet in Denver bound for Egypt following what immigration authorities said was a violation of a court order, according to their attorney Eric Lee. The family had been released Thursday from the Dilley detention center near San Antonio after 10 months in custody, believed to be the longest detention of any family unit during the current administration.
"This is a very live situation, an absolutely brazen violation of separation of powers," Lee said Saturday morning as the family was en route.
Within hours, the family's legal team filed an emergency motion to halt the deportation. US District Judge Fred Biery, the same judge who had ordered the family's release just days earlier, granted the motion to block the removal.
The specific court order the family allegedly violated remains unclear. The Department of Homeland Security declined to comment on the circumstances surrounding the rapid re-detention.
The family's detention stems from events in June when federal authorities arrested El Gamal in connection with her then-husband, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, who allegedly threw molotov cocktails at a crowd gathered at a pro-Gaza awareness event. The firebombing injured more than a dozen people, including an 82-year-old woman who died from her injuries. Soliman faces attempted murder and federal hate crimes charges.
El Gamal filed for divorce after Soliman's arrest. The family had entered the United States in August 2022 and later applied for asylum.
The 10-month detention at Dilley has drawn national scrutiny. Before their release, El Gamal's attorneys documented what they described as a troubling pattern of medical neglect. El Gamal had experienced severe pain that warranted an ultrasound recommendation from an emergency room doctor, but the facility denied the procedure. Her five-year-old child needed dental work to address 13 cavities but was unable to access care. When her 16-year-old son developed acute appendicitis, staff instructed him to take Tylenol.
The Dilley facility itself has faced repeated criticism over reports of inadequate medical care, rotting food, and bug-infested meals. ICE did not respond to questions about the alleged mistreatment.
When a federal court dismissed a lawsuit seeking the family's release in July, then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem celebrated the decision. "Just like her terrorist husband, she and her children are here illegally and are rightfully in ICE custody for removal," Noem said, adding that investigators were examining whether El Gamal or her children had knowledge of or supported Soliman's attack.
Author James Rodriguez: "The speed at which this family went from freedom back to a jet bound for deportation raises hard questions about whether the courts actually have the final say in immigration cases anymore."
Comments