‘Please listen to our story’: Wife of Boulder terror attack suspect speaks out

Celeste Springer

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — A Michigan attorney says he is in contact with the wife of the Boulder terror attack suspect and has released a statement on her behalf.

Hayam El Gamal, the wife of the Boulder terror attack suspect, was taken into ICE custody along with her kids after her husband allegedly unleashed a fury of Molotov cocktails on demonstrators in Boulder. The demonstrators hoped to bring attention to Israeli hostages; the suspect, Mohamed Soliman, reportedly yelled “Free Palestine” during the alleged attack.

“My five children and I are in total shock over what they say my husband did in Boulder, Colorado, earlier this month. So many lives were ruined on that day,” read a portion of the statement from El Gamal. “There is never an excuse for hurting innocent people. We have been cooperating with the authorities, who are trying their best to get to the bottom of this. We send our love to the many families who are suffering as a result of the attack.”

According to officials, Soliman was living in the country illegally after his visa expired. Following the alleged attack, his family was swiftly taken into custody to be processed for removal from the United States. A federal judge ruled that the family cannot be deported without due process.

A press release from attorney Eric Lee says Soliman’s wife and kids have been in an immigration jail in Texas for the past two weeks.

“This includes my two four-year-old children, my seven-year-old, my fifteen-year-old, and my oldest daughter, who just turned eighteen, in jail,” said Hayam El Gamal.

Attorney Eric Lee says the federal order prevents the government from deporting the family under expedited removal. They will have their day in court, and Lee told KRDO13 over the phone on Wednesday that he hopes to make it clear that no one in the United States should be punished for the alleged crimes of another person.

Lee also said that the family can’t be deported under expedited removal because they have been in the country for more than two years.

According to the Immigration Legal Resource Center, “any noncitizen who entered the United States with a visa or documentation cannot be removed under this process. Even if they have overstayed their visa, they are entitled to a hearing before an immigration judge. Additionally, anyone who has lived in the United States for two years or more before an enforcement encounter is not subject to expedited removal.”

According to Lee, the family entered the country legally on valid visas. He says they overstayed those visas, but had acquired work permits. Lee said they were derivatives of an asylum application, which is sought when a person has a well-founded fear of persecution in their original country.

El Gamal’s full statement is below:

“My name is Hayam El Gamal. My five children and I are in total shock over what they say my husband did in Boulder, Colorado, earlier this month. So many lives were ruined on that day.

There is never an excuse for hurting innocent people. We have been cooperating with the authorities, who are trying their best to get to the bottom of this. We send our love to the many families who are suffering as a result of the attack.

My kids and I were arrested by ICE on June 3, put on a flight to Texas in the middle of the night and have now been in an immigration jail in Texas for two weeks. This includes my two four-year-old children, my seven-year-old, my fifteen-year-old, and my oldest daughter, who just turned eighteen, in jail. We are grieving, and we are suffering. We are treated like animals by the officers, who told us we are being punished for what my husband is accused of doing. But why punish me? Why punish my four-year-old children? Why punish any of us, who did nothing wrong?

Since coming to America three years ago, we have tried to do everything right. We got work permits. We learned English. My daughter and I volunteered teaching English to other immigrants, to help them become more comfortable in America. We have always tried to be good neighbors, cooking food for those around us regardless of whether they are Muslim, Christian or Jewish. I do not judge anyone based on his religion. If your heart is good, that’s enough.

All I want is to give my children good lives. My oldest daughter volunteered at a hospital; she has a 4.5 GPA and wants to become a doctor, to help people in this country. My kids want to go to school, they want to see their friends and deal with their grief from recent weeks. But here they can’t sleep. They cry throughout the day, asking me, ‘When will we get to go home?’

When we were first detained, my children were forced to watch officials rough-up another detainee, and they cried and cried, thinking they would be roughed-up, too. Now my seven-year-old is about to have her birthday in jail, and my fifteen-year-old, too. All they want is to be home, to be in school, to have privacy, to sleep in their own beds, to have their mother make them a home-cooked meal, to help them grieve and get through these terrible weeks. But instead, we are here, in jail in Texas, where you can’t be human. Where you are always being watched.

Where you are woken up in the middle of the night by guards and given food fit for animals.

Only mothers can truly understand what we are going through. I did everything for my kids. It has been two weeks in jail, how much longer will we be here for something we didn’t do? How much longer until the damage to my children is irreversible? It has been so hard for me to stay strong for my kids. I’m so tired. I ask the American people, with all my heart, to please listen to our story and help us.”

-Hayam El Gamal

Click here to follow the original article.