COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — Dozens of southern Colorado Jewish community members gathered on the steps of the downtown Pioneers Museum Tuesday, demanding due process in an ongoing asylum and deportation case for Hayam El Gamal and her five children.
“What really horrifies me is other people using me as an excuse to treat someone terribly, to oppress their rights, to stop them from being able to speak out, to stop them from being able to live their lives,” said Barak Ben-Amots, a teacher who attended and spoke at the rally.
Ben-Amots said he was raised Jewish in Colorado Springs and knows through experience what it is to be an outsider in the community.
“I know what it is to experience anti-Semitism, and I don't want that to be used for somebody else's political agenda,” said Ben-Amots. “I want due process for the El Gamal family.”
The context of the Jewish community coming together to support the El Gamal family is significant in the wake of the actions by their estranged husband and father.
El Gamal’s ex-husband, Mohamed Soliman, was sentenced to life in prison last week on state charges after killing one and injuring a dozen others during a firebomb attack on a peaceful pro-Israel demonstration in Boulder last June.
Soliman and his family were living in El Paso County at the time. Shortly after his attack, El Gamal and her five children were detained by federal agents in the Colorado Springs area.
The El Gamal family attorneys previously said they arrived in the US on tourist visas in 2022 and then applied for asylum. The eldest daughter was recognized by The Gazette as one of the state's "Best and Brightest" before the attack.
If returned to Egypt, the family faces persecution, threat of death, and imprisonment, said Eric Lee, the family’s attorney.
“They have the right to apply for and have their asylum cases adjudicated,” said Lee in a text message. “That’s all they are asking for.”
After about 10 months in an ICE detention center in Texas, where the family suffered neglect and lack of medical care, according to their attorneys, they were finally released at the end of April through court orders.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has repeatedly denied the family's and attorney's claims.
Shortly after their release in Texas, they were detained again in Colorado during a scheduled check-in with immigration officials.
They were placed on a deportation flight that was turned around in the air after federal judges in Colorado and Texas ruled they should not be immediately deported.
“If the group of people that was targeted by this horrible attack can say ‘That was terrible. It should never happen to anyone,’” said Erin Adlerstein, one of the organizers of Tuesday’s Jews for Due Process rally. “And the person who did it should get his due process and move through the court system, as he has, and be sentenced. Other people should not be punished for that crime.”
At the time of their initial detainment last June, now-ousted DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said they were investigating “to what extent [Soliman’s] family knew about this heinous attack.”
But since then, over the past year, federal officials have said in court that the family had no knowledge or involvement with the attack, according to family attorney Eric Lee.
The prolonged push by DHS and immigration officials to detain and deport the El Gamal family was the focus on the Tuesday rally in Colorado Springs.
“We've been upset about the injustice for a long time, but didn't know that our voice was needed to speak out until we were approached,” said Rabbi Iah Pillsbury from Temple Beit Torah. She said one of their congregants is friends with the El Gamal family. “They came to speak at Shabbat services and we were overcome by the heartache and the pain and the injustice.”
Rabbi Pillsbury acknowledged that Soliman perpetrated a “terrible attack in Boulder against Jews,” and that their gathering to release the hostages in Gaza was important.
But she reiterated the family shouldn’t be held accountable for his actions.
“We're standing up to say yes, that was terrible. He should be punished through everything in our legal system, and his family has already lived through a terrible year that should never have happened,” said Pillsbury. “And it's our job to stand up and say ‘No. This is enough.’ And let's remind everybody of what really matters.”
DHS has repeatedly pushed back against the claims of lack of due process and continually has tried to push the link between the family and ex-husband.
“The facts of this case have not changed, Mohammed Soliman is a terrorist responsible for an anti-Semitic firebombing in Boulder. Despite receiving full due process and a final order of removal, this activist judge appointed by Bill Clinton is releasing this terrorist’s family onto American streets,” said Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis upon the El Gamal family’s release last month.
“Under President Trump, DHS will continue to fight for the removal of those who have no right to be in our country especially national security threats,” said Bis. “We are applying the law as written without prejudice. If a judge finds an illegal alien has no right to be in this country, we are going to remove them. Period.”
Lee said they are back in court on Thursday, as the Colorado judge’s order of stay expires on Friday.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has also asked the Colorado federal court to dissolve the April 25 stay that granted their release, Lee said. That stay remains in effect until dissolved by the court. Lee said he doesn’t think dissolution would be legally justified.
Meantime, Lee said the family is together in Colorado receiving medical and mental health care. They’ve been checking in with immigration officials every two weeks. Each check-in brings fear of another detention or attempted re-deportation, Lee said.
The upcoming expiration of one of those judge-ordered stays is why the Jews for Due Process rally was organized so quickly.
Gatherers also shared a note from El Gamal to members of the local Jewish community. She expressed disappointment she couldn't meet the community, citing challenges with media presence “that prevent us from joining you in person.”
“What my ex-husband did was a horrendous and horrible act that goes against everything my children and I believe in. Violence is never justified. We do not judge people based on their color, their ethnicity, or their religion,” said El Gamal in the note. “I truly believe that if every child were raised to respect every human being, regardless of the differences, the world would be a much kinder place.”
The note from Hayam El Gamal to the local Jewish community can be read in full below:
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