The family of Boulder firebombing suspect Mohamed Soliman is now in federal custody and being processed for expedited removal.
Sources within the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed on Tuesday the wife and five children of 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Soliman were taken into custody.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem also announced the news in a video posted to X on Tuesday and vowed justice would be served.
Today, @DHSgov and @ICEGov are taking the family of suspected Boulder, Colorado terrorist, and illegal alien, Mohamed Soliman, into ICE custody.
This terrorist will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. We are investigating to what extent his family knew about this… pic.twitter.com/fcjMiyWil7
— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) June 3, 2025
“This terrorist will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” she wrote on X. “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. I am continuing to pray for the victims of this attack and their families.”
News reports are limited on the family’s background. One of Soliman’s children, Habiba Soliman, suggested her family moved to the U.S. so she could pursue a “dream” career in medicine — professing America “fundamentally changed me,” The New York Post reported Tuesday afternoon.
The family’s detainment is the latest development in an ongoing investigation into Sunday’s gruesome and unprovoked attack on a group of peaceful Jewish demonstrators who gather weekly in support of Israel at a Boulder pedestrian mall.
The Trump administration has called it a targeted terrorist attack and another escalation of the antisemitic protests and violence across the country.
“We have seen two horrific cases of antisemitic violence in our country in the last two weeks, and it is unacceptable to this president and this White House,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters outside the White House on Monday. “And rest assured to all Jewish Americans across our great country, this president has your back and he’s not going to allow anyone to take part in violent terrorism, acts of terrorism, in our country.”
Trump also blamed former President Biden’s open borders and lax immigration enforcement for allowing millions of unvetted immigrants, extremists and terrorists into the country.
“Yesterday’s horrific attack in Boulder, Colorado, WILL NOT BE TOLERATED in the United States of America,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “He came in through Biden’s ridiculous Open Border Policy, which has hurt our Country so badly. He must go out under ‘TRUMP’ Policy.”
“Acts of Terrorism will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law. This is yet another example of why we must keep our Borders SECURE, and deport Illegal, Anti-American Radicals from our Homeland. My heart goes out to the victims of this terrible tragedy, and the Great People of Boulder, Colorado!” the president added.
Soliman, an Egyptian national, overstayed his visa and is in the country illegally. He entered the U.S. during the Biden administration, originally landing at Los Angeles International Airport on Aug. 27, 2022, with a B-2 tourist visa.
Fox News Digital reported he has been charged with a multitude of crimes – including multiple counts of attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault, and possession of incendiary devices. Soliman is being held on a $10 million bond. He has also been federally charged with a hate crime involving actual or perceived race, religion or national origin.
Attorney General Pam Bondi also released a statement Monday in which she condemned “vile antisemitic violence.”
“The Department of Justice has swiftly charged the illegal alien perpetrator of this heinous attack with a federal hate crime and will hold him accountable to the fullest extent of the law. Our prayers are with the victims and our Jewish community across the world,” Bondi said.
Soliman used a homemade flamethrower to shoot Molotov cocktails at the group, leaving 12 people with burn injuries, and shouted “Free Palestine.” He also praised the radical Islamic group Muslim Brotherhood on social media, The New York Post reported.
The victims were at the Pearl Street pedestrian mall for a Run for Their Lives protest, which, according to the Anti-Defamation League, is a weekly event attended by members of the Jewish community to support hostages held in Gaza by Hamas terrorists, according to Fox News Digital.
USA Today reported in a Monday news conference, officials said Soliman tried to purchase a gun and took a concealed carry course, but he was denied due to his citizenship status.
He made his own flammable incendiary devices when he could not legally buy a gun. He had an additional 16 incendiary devices near him when police officers arrived and arrested him.
Witnesses observed Soliman throw what appeared to be a glass bottle, which burst upon impact, creating large flames and injuring a dozen people, authorities said. Soliman told medical personnel on the scene he’d planned the attack as vengeance for “his people.”
After being arrested, he told investigators he “wanted to kill all Zionist people” and would launch another assault if he was able to, a federal affidavit said. He stated that he hated “the Zionist group and needed to stop them from taking over ‘our land,’ which he explained to be Palestine.”
Fox News Digital reported he was authorized to stay in the U.S. through Feb. 2, 2023, but never left. In general, B-2 visas are good for six months. On Sept. 9, 2022, he filed an asylum claim with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
On March 29, 2023, Soliman received a work permit from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which expired in March of this year.
Soliman lived at a home in Colorado Springs with his wife and five children, according to the federal affidavit. He lived in Kuwait for 17 years before moving to Colorado three years ago. He also expected the attack to be a suicide mission, and left notes for his family hidden in their apartment, The New York Post reported.
According to investigative journalist Laura Loomer, who posted on X, the Colorado Springs Gazette newspaper did a profile piece on Habiba Soliman, the daughter of Mohamed Soliman, in April.
SCOOP:
Less than a month and a half ago, the liberal @csgazette Colorado Springs Gazette newspaper did a PROFILE piece on Habiba Soliman, the daughter of Mohamed Soliman who also was let into our country by Joe Biden 2 years ago.
Soliman is an illegal Alien Muslim terrorist,… https://t.co/CzfIM2q3UF pic.twitter.com/HBp8FaBrX6
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) June 3, 2025
“Soliman is an illegal Alien Muslim terrorist, which means his daughter, who also came to the US under Biden 2 years ago, is possibly also an illegal alien,” Loomer wrote.
@LoomerUnleashed has exclusively confirmed that Habiba has been accepted to two Colorado Universities, including University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and Colorado University in Denver Colorado.
Habiba Soliman recently graduated high school. She attended a Thomas Maclaren Charter School and came to the U.S. from Kuwait two years ago.
