Wife of Colorado attack suspect says she and her 5 children are ‘suffering' in ICE custody

The wife of an Egyptian man accused of carrying out an antisemitic attack in Colorado earlier this month says she was in 'total shock' when she learned what her husband had allegedly done, detailing the 'grieving and suffering' her family is enduring in after federal custody , in a statement released Wednesday.
Hayam El Gamal, 43, and her five children were detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement two days after federal prosecutors say her husband, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, drove to downtown Boulder with a homemade flamethrower and Molotov cocktails and attacked demonstrators at a peaceful event to support Israeli hostages in Gaza, injuring at least 12 people.
For a full year, Soliman, 45, planned the violent assault driven by his simmering anger toward Israel and hatred of 'Zionists,' according to federal documents.
But El Gamal says she and the children were not aware of Soliman's plan to hurt innocent people.
'Why punish any of us, who did nothing wrong?' El Gamal said in the statement. 'We are treated like animals by the officers, who told us we are being punished for what my husband is accused of doing.'
On June 3, El Gamal says she and her children were arrested, put on a flight in the middle of the night and transferred from Colorado to the Dilley Family Detention Center in southern Texas.
In the two weeks that have passed, El Gamal said her eldest daughter turned 18 in federal custody and her younger children – aged 4, 4, 7 and 15 – were 'forced to watch officials rough-up' another detainee.
'They cried and cried, thinking they would be roughed-up, too,' El Gamal said. 'How much longer will we be here for something we didn't do?'
Conditions in the detention center are inhumane, according to El Gamal, who says detainees are always being watched and woken up in the middle of the night.
CNN has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment on conditions at the detention center following a referral from ICE and the facility's owner, CoreCivic, a private prison operator based in Nashville.
'Now my seven-year-old is about to have her birthday in jail, and my fifteen-year-old, too,' El Gamal added. '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.'
The exact reason for the detention of Soliman's wife and children is not clear, according to Eric Lee, the family's immigration attorney based in Michigan.
The family entered the United States in August 2022, Lee told CNN Wednesday, before overstaying their visas. However, that's not why they were detained, he said.
'The issue here is whether they can be detained when the government has explicitly stated that its reason for detaining them is not because their visa overstays, but is because of their family relationship to their husband/father,' Lee told CNN Wednesday.
Once detained, El Gamal and the children were placed under expedited removal, a process that allows immigration officials to remove noncitizens without a hearing before an immigration judge, Lee says.
At the time of their detention, DHS did not provide additional details on the expedited removal process.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has said the agency is 'investigating to what extent his family knew about this heinous attack, if they had knowledge of it, or if they provided support to it.'
El Gamal has not been charged with a crime, according to Lee, who notes there is no legal basis for deporting Soliman's family.
'The government can't detain individuals for unlawful purposes,' Lee added.
While Soliman faces a federal hate crime charge and state charges including attempted murder, his wife and children are hoping to remain in the US, Lee says.
On Wednesday, a US District court approved a request to extend a temporary restraining order issued by a federal judge on June 4 that aims to keep El Gamal and her children in the US and prevents immigration officials 'from trying to deport this family illegally,' Lee told CNN. The order has been extended for an additional 14 days.
The Trump administration opposed the extension request, stating that the family is not being placed under expedited removal, according to Lee.
' We don't understand if the government's being forthright about its statement that it is not anymore trying to put them into expedited removal,' Lee said. 'Why are they opposing the extension of an order which would prevent the administration from doing just that?'
Since coming to the US, El Gamal says she and her family have tried to do everything right: learn English, find work, be good neighbors.
'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,' El Gamal said.
She and the children should be given the chance to grieve in peace, Lee added.
'That doesn't take anything away from the families of the people who are attacked in this terrible act,' he added. 'But, creating more suffering doesn't help anybody in this situation.'

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19 minutes ago

• Yahoo

Israeli Hermes Drone Shot Down In Iran, Trump Ramps Up Threats To Tehran

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Iran appears to have finally managed to down its first aircraft with the Israel Air Force, a 'Hermes 900' Long-Endurance Tactical Drone, which they claim to have downed last night over the Isfahan Province of Central Iran. Footage from Iranian state-run media appears to confirm… — OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) June 18, 2025 As evidenced by the U.S. experience of operating the MQ-9 Reaper against the Houthi militants in Yemen, medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) drones remain vulnerable to even relatively low-level air defense threats. Despite Israel declaring its control of the skies, road-mobile surface-to-air missile systems and even man-portable air defense systems remain a threat. Regardless, it is likely that many of the strikes attributed to IAF fighters were actually carried out by MALE drones, including but not limited to the Hermes. As we have discussed in the past, MALE drones like the Hermes are certainly being actively used in the hunt for Iranian missiles. Apparently located among the wreckage of the Hermes 900 was this miniature glide bomb, which looks to be a Mikholit. This Israeli-developed weapon is tailored for use by drones and is typically used to attack small ground targets, such as personnel or vehicles, aircraft sitting idle, and air defenses. Small Israeli-made guided glide bomb Mikholit, designed for UAVs, also spotted on wreckage site of Hermes-900 is used for precision strikes on light targets such as exposed personnel or unarmored vehicles. — Clash Report (@clashreport) June 18, 2025 You can catch up on the war between Israel and Iran in our previous coverage here. LATEST: The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) say they launched a new wave of strikes on Tehran in the early hours of Wednesday morning, warning residents in parts of the city to urgently evacuate. 'Dear citizens, for your safety and well-being, we urgently request that you immediately evacuate the designated area in Tehran's Area 18. Your presence in this area puts your life at risk,' the IDF posted on social media. A series of explosions were reported in eastern and western parts of Tehran early this morning, while residents continued to flee the capital. The exodus out of Tehran has ramped up, with roads out of the city blocked and queues outside gas stations. At least one of the Israeli strikes appeared to target Tehran's eastern neighborhood of Hakimiyeh, where the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has an academy. There are reports that Israel has hit further targets associated with Iran's nuclear program. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Israel struck the TESA Karaj workshop and the Tehran Research Center. The IAEA posted on X: 'At the Tehran site, one building was hit where advanced centrifuge rotors were manufactured and tested. At Karaj, two buildings were destroyed where different centrifuge components were manufactured.' The IAEA has information that two centrifuge production facilities in Iran, the TESA Karaj workshop and the Tehran Research Center, were hit. Both sites were previously under IAEA monitoring and verification as part of the JCPOA. — IAEA – International Atomic Energy Agency (@iaeaorg) June 18, 2025 The two facilities are understood to produce parts for centrifuges, used to enrich uranium. Posting on X, the IDF said it had attacked 'a centrifuge production site and several weapons manufacturing sites' overnight. The IDF wrote: 'Over 50 Air Force fighter jets, guided by precise intelligence from the Intelligence Directorate, completed a series of strikes on military targets in the Tehran area in recent hours.' 'During the wave of attacks, several weapons manufacturing sites were targeted. Among the weapons production facilities attacked was a site for producing raw materials and components for assembling surface-to-surface missiles that the Iranian regime has launched and continues to launch toward the State of Israel.' The IDF also continues to remove Iranian airpower from the order of battle. After releasing footage showing the destruction of F-14 Tomcat fighters, the IAF has now provided a video showing the targeting of another Shah-era asset: AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army Aviation (IRIAA). The service was assessed to have only around a dozen AH-1s still active before the current conflict, and the footage suggests that at least five were destroyed, although they may also have been non-operational airframes. This morning, the Israeli Air Force attacked the Iranian Army helicopter base at Kermanshah Airport. 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Among the Iranian missiles that have been launched, the Revolutionary Guard Corps claims that it has fired 'hypersonic missiles' as part of the latest round of overnight strikes. IRGC:Our Fattah missiles broke through Israeli defenses and held complete domination over Israeli airspace. — Clash Report (@clashreport) June 18, 2025 Iran unveiled what it described as a hypersonic missile back in 2023. However, missile experts have long been highly skeptical that the missile, named Fattah ('conqueror'), is a genuine hypersonic weapon. It's also worth noting that most ballistic missiles achieve a speed greater than Mach 5, which is considered the threshold for a hypersonic weapon. However, true hypersonic weapons comprise hypersonic glide vehicles (HGVs) and hypersonic cruise missiles (HCMs), which are able to maneuver significantly during atmospheric flight as well as maintain hypersonic speeds over large portions of their flight trajectories. Instead, the Fattah likely employs endo-atmospheric and exo-atmospheric maneuverability to increase its survivability and accuracy. So far, according to the latest IDF figures, Iran has launched over 400 ballistic missiles and some 1,000 drones at Israel since the start of the conflict on Friday. Of the ballistic missiles, the IDF claims just over 20 struck urban areas in Israel, killing 24 people and leaving more than 500 wounded. Of the 1,000 drones, fewer than 200 entered Israeli airspace, and all were either intercepted by the Israeli Air Force and Navy or fell short before reaching Israel. 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'Ali returns to Khaybar,' the post added, in a reference to the first imam of Shia Islam and his conquest of the Jewish town of Khaybar in the 7th century. به نام نامی #حیدر، نبرد آغاز می‌گرددعلی با ذوالفقار خود، به #خیبر باز می‌گردد#الله_اکبر — | فارسی (@Khamenei_fa) June 17, 2025 Further hawkish words came from the ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations in Geneva, Ali Bahreini. He told reporters that Iran will respond to Israeli strikes 'strongly' and 'without restraint.' 'We will not show any reluctance in defending our people, security, and land,' he added. Reflecting the kind of rhetoric now coming out of Tehran, Iranian state media posted the following video, showing a hand stroking a mock-up nuclear bomb accompanied by the caption 'Maybe.' 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You can read our post on the mysterious flights here. Khamenei continues to make dark warnings to the U.S.: The harm the US will suffer will definitely be irreparable if they enter this conflict militarily. — (@khamenei_ir) June 18, 2025Check out the latest on the conflict in our new post here. Contact the author: thomas@

New York Post

32 minutes ago

• New York Post

Aflac customer data breached by cybercriminals in latest hit on US insurance industry

Aflac's customer data has been breached in the latest cyberattack on the US insurance industry – potentially jeopardizing Social Security numbers, insurance claims and health information, the company said Friday. It's the largest insurance company yet to fall victim to a major hacking, with tens of millions of customers and a $55 billion market cap. 'This attack, like many insurance companies are currently experiencing, was caused by a sophisticated cybercrime group,' Aflac said Friday. Aflac said Friday that its network had been hacked by cybercriminals. yu_photo – Aflac — long known for its quacking duck TV commercials — said it is unable to determine the total number of impacted individuals and the specific data stolen. Its systems were not affected by ransomware, so it is fully operational, and the company has engaged third-party cybersecurity experts, Aflac added. It said it stopped the intrusion on June 12 hours after it noticed suspicious activity. Erie Insurance and Philadelphia Insurance Companies have also reported hacks this month. Both of those cases led to widespread disruptions across their IT systems. All three of the major hacks are consistent with techniques used by a group of young cybercriminals known as Scattered Spider, sources familiar with the investigation told CNN. Aflac said the hackers used 'social engineering' tactics to breach their network, manipulating employees to gain access to a company system and often posing as tech support workers over the phone — a trademark of Scattered Spider. All three of the major hacks are consistent with methods used by Scattered Spider, sources told CNN. Montri – In the past, these hackers have posed as company help desk staffers to obtain credentials from employees or tricked workers into installing tools on their devices that will hand over network access, according to the US Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency. Scattered Spider is believed to be made up of teens and young adults in the US and UK and is known for aggressively extorting victims. Its members recently targeted Marks & Spencer and other UK retailers, and famously carried out a hacking spree across Las Vegas casinos in September 2023. Cybersecurity executives have sounded the alarms over the group's attack on the US insurance industry, warning companies to tell their employees to be wary of suspicious phone calls. Aflac did not mention Scattered Spider by name in its press release.

Los Angeles Times

an hour ago

• Los Angeles Times

Trump calls for special prosecutor to investigate 2020 election, reviving long-standing grievance

WASHINGTON — President Trump on Friday called for the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the 2020 election won by Democrat Joe Biden, repeating his baseless claim that the contest was marred by widespread fraud. 'Biden was grossly incompetent, and the 2020 election was a total FRAUD!' Trump said in a social media post in which he also sought to favorably contrast his immigration enforcement approach with that of the former president. 'The evidence is MASSIVE and OVERWHELMING. A Special Prosecutor must be appointed. This cannot be allowed to happen again in the United States of America! Let the work begin!' Trump's post, made as his Republican White House is consumed by a hugely substantial foreign policy decision on whether to get directly involved in the Israel-Iran war, is part of an amped-up effort by him to undermine the legitimacy of Biden's presidency. Earlier this month, Trump directed his administration to investigate Biden's actions as president, alleging aides masked his predecessor's 'cognitive decline.' Biden has dismissed the investigation as 'a mere distraction.' The post also revives a long-running grievance by Trump that the election was stolen even though courts around the country and a Trump attorney general from his first term found no evidence of fraud that could have affected the outcome. The Department of Homeland Security's cybersecurity arm pronounced the election 'the most secure in American history.' It was unclear what Trump had in mind when he called for a special prosecutor, but in the event Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi heeds his call, she may face pressure to appoint someone who has already been confirmed by the Senate. A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment Friday. The Justice Department in recent years has appointed a succession of special counsels — sometimes, though not always, plucked from outside the agency — to lead investigations into politically sensitive matters, including into conduct by Biden and by Trump. Last year, Trump's personal lawyers launched an aggressive, and successful, challenge to the appointment of Jack Smith, the special counsel assigned to investigate his efforts to undo the 2020 presidential election and his retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla. A Trump-appointed judge agreed, ruling that then-Atty. Gen. Merrick Garland had exceeded his bounds by appointing a prosecutor without Senate approval and confirmation, and dismissed the case. That legal team included Todd Blanche, who is now deputy attorney general, as well as Emil Bove, who is Blanche's top deputy but was recently nominated to serve as a judge on a federal appeals court. Tucker writes for the Associated Press.