Family of man charged in deadly Boulder Molotov cocktail attack can be deported, judge rules
Boulder Police Department
(TEXAS) — A federal judge in Texas has ruled that the family of the man charged in the deadly Molotov cocktail attack in Boulder, Colorado, can be deported, dismissing a challenge to their removal filed last month.
Hayam El Gamal, the wife of Mohamed Sabry Soliman, was apprehended following the attack and was initially slated for expedited deportation.
The deportation case involving Soliman’s wife and five children was transferred to Texas. Last month, a judge issued a temporary order halting the family’s deportation, which remained in place until now.
Dismissing the family’s legal challenge, U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia wrote, “Upon review of the parties’ advisories, the record, and the applicable law, the Court finds that it lacks jurisdiction to grant Petitioners the relief they seek and must dismiss this case without prejudice.”
Soliman has been hit with several state charges, including first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and assault. A preliminary hearing in the state case is set for July 15.
Soliman, who is being held in federal custody, has pleaded not guilty to federal hate crime charges.
Authorities said Soliman threw Molotov cocktails at a group of marchers who were advocating for the release of the Israeli hostages outside the Boulder courthouse on June 1, yelling “Free Palestine” during the attack.
(LOS ANGELES) — The Marines and the National Guard personnel deployed amid the protests in to Los Angeles will operate under the same rules of force and will not be engaging crowds unless necessary, according to two U.S. officials.
That means they are tasked with protecting federal buildings and federal personnel only — they will not patrol U.S. streets or try to detain protesters to assist police, the officials said.
While all the troops are carrying weapons, their guns will not have ammunition loaded in the chamber, officials said, but will carry ammunition as part of their regular uniforms that can be used in the rare case of needed self-defense.
They will not use rubber bullets or pepper spray, either, they said.
The officials noted these rules would change if President Donald Trump invokes the Insurrection Act, which he has not done.
The rules of force the personnel are operating under call for them to de-escalate the situation as much as possible.
“The arrival of federal military forces in Los Angeles — absent clear coordination — presents a significant logistical and operational challenge for those of us charged with safeguarding this city,” Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell said in a statement.
“The Los Angeles Police Department, alongside our mutual aid partners, has decades of experience managing large-scale public demonstrations, and we remain confident in our ability to do so professionally and effectively,” he continued. “That said, our top priority is the safety of both the public and the officers on the ground. We are urging open and continuous lines of communication between all agencies to prevent confusion, avoid escalation, and ensure a coordinated, lawful, and orderly response during this critical time.”
Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas Edmonds, a former vice commander of the Michigan Air National Guard, told ABC News, “If I were an on-scene commander in my previous life as a [National] Guard officer, I would immediately demand clarification, for my people’s sake. I would be saying, so what, when do we use deadly force?”
Edmonds said it appears the military is “defining the mission as non-law enforcement.”
“But they’re putting them with law enforcement personnel as their ‘protection.’ And I don’t see the distinction there between if I’m engaged in protecting a federal officer [or] federal building, [and if] I’m engaged in enforcing the law.”
The Marines and Guard troops being sent to Los Angeles are being led by Army Maj. Gen. Scott Sherman, who is deputy commander of U.S. Army North, officials said.
In total, there are 4,800 troops operating under Title 10 status: 4100 of them National Guard soldiers and 700 active-duty Marines.
Title 10 of the U.S. Code contains a provision that allows the president to call on federal service members when there “is a rebellion or danger of rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States” or when “the President is unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States.”
The deployment of the 700 Marines was to ensure “adequate numbers of forces to provide continuous coverage” of the area, according to U.S. Northern Command.
The deployed force is known as “Task Force 51” and officials insist the troops have been trained in de-escalation, crowd control, and standing rules for the use of force.
(NEW YORK) — A federal judge on Friday said he has a strong suspicion that the Trump administration deported a 2-year old U.S. citizen to Honduras “with no meaningful process.”
The U.S. citizen, identified in the filings as “V.M.L” was initially detained with her undocumented mother and sister at a routine immigration check-in in New Orleans earlier this week. After the father of the 2-year old learned that his family was detained, his lawyer called immigration officials to inform them that V.M.L is a U.S. citizen and could not be deported, according to court documents.
“Around 7:30 p.m. the same day, V.M.L.’s father received a call from an ICE officer, who spoke to him for about a minute,” according to a court filing submitted by the father’s attorney. “The officer said that V.M.L.’s mother was there, and that they did not have much time to speak to each other and that they were going to deport his partner and daughters.”
According to the court filing, when the father reached out to an official for Immigration and Customs and Enforcement, he was told that he could try to pick up V.M.L but that he would also be taken into custody.
On Thursday, an attorney for a family friend, who had been given temporary provisional custody of the child, filed for a temporary restraining order, requesting the immediate release of the 2-year-old, saying she was suffering irreparable harm by being detained.
In response to that motion, lawyers with the Justice Department said it was in the best interest of the minor that she remain in legal custody of her mother and added that she was not at “risk of irreparable harm because she is a U.S. citizen.”
“V.M.L. is not prohibited from entering the United States,” the DOJ lawyers said in the court filing.
Before the court responded to the habeas petition and a motion for temporary restraining order, the 2-year old, along with her mother and sister, were deported to Honduras, according to court filings.
“That family filed a habeas corpus petition and motion for a temporary restraining order, which was never ruled on because of their rapid early-morning deportation,” the American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement.
The ACLU said that the 2-year old and two other U.S. citizen children in a separate case, were deported from the U.S. “under deeply troubling circumstances that raise serious due process concerns.”
In his April 25 order, U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty said he tried to reach the 2-year-old’s mother over the phone, to ascertain whether she, in fact, wanted her child deported with her, as the government had contended, but was told by government attorneys that wouldn’t be possible because the mother had just been released in Honduras.
Doughty scheduled a hearing in the case for May 16, saying he was taking the step in “the interest of dispelling our strong suspicion that the Government just deported a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process.”
(MIAMI) — A man was arrested and charged after allegedly attacking a fellow passenger on a Frontier fight “unprovoked,” according to the Miami Dade Sheriff’s Office.
Ishaan Sharma, 21, has been charged with battery and is facing a $500 bond, according to jail records.
Miami Dade Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a report of a battery that occurred on a Frontier Airlines Flight coming into Miami International Airport on Tuesday, according to an arrest affidavit.
On the scene, the victim told police the attack was “unprovoked” and occurred when Sharma allegedly “approached him and grabbed his neck while returning to his assigned seat,” according to the affidavit.
A physical altercation then occurred between the two passengers, with Sharma suffering a “visible laceration to his left eyebrow which required medical assistance,” the affidavit said.
The victim only suffered superficial cuts and refused medical assistance on the scene.
Sharma was taken into custody and transported to Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center after being cleared at Jackson West Hospital.
