ICE re-arrests El Gamal family hours after federal court ordered their release

On April 23, 2026, U.S. District Judge in San Antonio ordered the immediate release of HEHayam El Gamal and her five children (ages 5 to 18) after they had been detained for more than 10 months at the South 🤠Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas—the longest family detention under Trump's administration. On April 25, less than 48 hours after their release, ICE re-arrested the family during a routine at a Denver immigration office, violating Judge Biery's court order.

After HEHayam El Gamal and her children were placed on a federal plane headed to Detroit and then outside the U.S., emergency motions filed by attorneys ELEric Lee and CGChris Godshall-Bennett prompted federal judges in both 🤠Texas and 🏔️Colorado to order the plane . Judge Elizabeth Chestney (Magistrate Judge) and Judge Biery both ruled the family shouldn't be deported and that ICE's re-arrest violated their constitutional rights. The family was released again early Sunday, April 26. ICE maintained the family received 'full due process' and framed the judges as 'activist judges' releasing a 'terrorist's family.'

The El Gamal family emigrated from Egypt legally on B-2 tourist visas in 2022. They overstayed their visas while pursuing . The family was initially detained in June 2025 after MSMohamed Sabry Soliman (the mother's ex-husband, from whom she was divorced while detained) was charged with an antisemitic firebombing attack in Boulder, 🏔️Colorado that killed an 82-year-old woman and injured 29 others. Despite no family members being charged with crimes, all six were detained under family unity detention authority.

While detained, the family suffered documented medical neglect and violations of their rights as detailed in court filings. HEHayam El Gamal experienced excruciating chest pain for months but was denied a CT scan by the Department of Homeland Security and (the private company operating Dilley). In March 2026, she was rushed to the emergency room and discovered to have fluid around her heart. Her children suffered depression during their 324-day detention, which violated the Flores Settlement Agreement—a decades-old federal settlement stating that children can't be detained for more than 20 days.

An immigration judge initially granted the family bond in September 2025, determining they posed no danger to the community and weren't flight risks. However, DHS filed an immediate 'notice of intent to appeal,' which automatically stayed the judge's bond decision. The Board of Immigration Appeals then ordered a new hearing, and the bond was reversed. This created a cycle where judicial findings of safety were by executive action. Immigration Judge Biery noted that courts rarely prosecute executive officials for contempt when they ignore court orders.

The family's final removal order was issued December 29, 2025, upheld by the Board of Appeals on April 22, 2026—three days before Biery's release order. Yet the Flores Settlement Agreement and established habeas corpus doctrine suggest the family should have been released on bond long before. Biery and Chestney found the continued detention violated due process. ICE claimed it was following , but the judges determined that removal authority doesn't supersede constitutional liberty protections for people in custody.

DHS Assistant Secretary LBLauren Bis defended the re-arrest and removal attempt by describing MSMohamed Sabry Soliman as 'a terrorist responsible for an anti-Semitic firebombing in Boulder' and claiming the family 'received full due process.' However, HEHayam El Gamal, who was divorced from Soliman before the attack and publicly condemned the violence, and her children were never charged with any crime, never accused of knowing about the attack beforehand, and suffered prolonged far exceeding legal limits for children. The justification conflated guilt-by-association with prosecutable criminal conduct.

The Trump administration's immediate re-arrest after judicial release signals that the executive branch, under Trump, views court orders on immigration detention as advisory rather than binding. Federal judges rarely have mechanisms to enforce compliance when —congressional impeachment of officials is the only recourse, which never happens. This creates a constitutional crisis: if the executive can simply ignore judges' release orders, the judiciary's ability to protect constitutional rights erodes and the rule of law weakens.

Congressional Democrats condemned the re-arrest. RJRep. Joaquin Castro wrote: 'A federal judge ordered the Trump Administration not to detain or remove the El Gamal family. ICE waited until the family had left 🤠Texas, then defied the judge's order. If they can ignore a court order to go after this family, anyone could be next.' The case exemplifies growing tensions between executive immigration enforcement and judicial oversight, with the Trump administration increasingly willing to to pursue deportations.