By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON, April 23 (Reuters) – A woman and her five children, whose immigration detention of over 10 months marked the longest family detention under President Donald Trump’s administration, were released on Thursday hours after a judge’s order, their lawyer said.
U.S. District Judge Fred Biery of the Western District of Texas ordered the family’s release on Thursday.
Hayam El Gamal and her five children aged 5 to 18 were taken into federal custody last June after last year’s fire-bomb attack in Boulder, Colorado, over which her ex-husband, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, was charged. An 82-year-old woman who was injured in that attack later died.
“The El Gamal family is free,” Eric Lee, a lawyer for the family detained in Texas, said in a statement.
El Gamal and Habiba Soliman, 18, the eldest child, will have to wear ankle monitors.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, of which the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency is a part, criticized the ruling that ordered the family’s release, saying it came from an “activist judge” who was “releasing this terrorist’s family onto American streets.”
Mohamed Soliman was arrested over the attack on a gathering that commemorated Israeli hostages held by Hamas militants in Gaza. El Gamal divorced Soliman after his arrest, NBC News reported. She also condemned the attack.
The family’s legal team says they had no advance knowledge of the suspect’s plans and that the family was detained unlawfully. The government said federal agents were investigating “to what extent” the family knew about the attack.
The legal team also said the family’s health deteriorated during their detention and alleged they were denied appropriate medical care.
Lee, the family’s lawyer, said El Gamal was taken this month to an off-site emergency room after she “began experiencing excruciating pain” and that she received a CT scan which showed she had “fluid around the heart.” The legal team said all five of her children were suffering from depression.
The DHS said the family received medical care and due process.
Rights groups have noted detainee complaints about conditions in ICE detention facilities that they call inhumane.
At least 47 people have died in ICE custody since Trump’s return to the White House. Trump’s immigration crackdown has been condemned by rights groups for what they say are violations of due process and free speech rights. Rights advocates say the crackdown creates an unsafe environment, particularly for minorities.
Trump casts his actions as necessary to curb illegal immigration and improve domestic security.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
