Austen Erblat is a digital producer and assignment editor at CBS News Colorado and is Covering Colorado First. Originally from South Florida, he's been working as a journalist in Denver since 2022.
A federal magistrate in Texas has recommended that a judge order the release of the family of the Boulder, Colorado, firebombing suspect in a Monday court filing. A hearing is set for Thursday, April 23, at the federal courthouse in San Antonio, TX.
A lawsuit was filed on behalf of Hayam El Gamal and her five children seeking their release, as El Gamal has been experiencing serious medical issues, according to her legal team, and the FBI concluded months ago that the family knew nothing of Mohamed Soliman's plans.
On June 1, 2025, Soliman allegedly threw makeshift incendiary devices at people who marched in downtown Boulder to bring attention to Israeli hostages who were being held in Gaza at the time, injuring over a dozen.
Weeks later, one of those people, 82-year-old Karen Diamond, died of her injuries, officials said, and Soliman was charged with first-degree murder, in addition to dozens of state and federal charges related to attempted murder, assault, use of incendiary devices, and hate crimes.
Soliman's family had been living in Colorado Springs at the time of the attack and applied for asylum after their visas expired. Upon learning of their immigration status, former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement to take the family into custody, where they've been for about 10 months.
In one of the court cases against Soliman, an FBI agent testified that the family knew nothing of the attack, and they had cooperated with the investigation. They've been held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas for almost the entirety of their detention. They were denied bond by Immigration Judge Justin Adams in January, reversing his own decision from September 2025, which declared that they were eligible for release on bond.
El Gamal's attorney, Eric Lee, said in a tweet that she "suffered a serious medical emergency due to systematic denial of medical attention by ICE." He told CBS News Colorado previously that if the family were to be deported to Egypt, their cooperation with the FBI in the investigation would put them at risk.
El Gamal filed for divorce from Soliman after he was arrested.
On Monday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Chestney recommended that U.S. District Judge Fred Biery order the release of El Gamal and her children, aged 5, 5, 9, 16, and 18.
Chestney said the government has failed to prove that the family is dangerous or a flight risk, and wrote in her filing that there are "significant risks that the Government will intervene to again target Petitioners' case and to prevent their lawful release."
She wrote that "immediate release is the appropriate remedy" and that if the government wanted to detain the family, the efforts must comport with due process and involve an individualized bond hearing where the government must justify the detention.
CBS News Colorado reached out to El Gamal's attorney and ICE for comment, and did not immediately receive a response from either.