DENVER — A federal judge in Denver issued an order Wednesday to prevent the deportation of the wife and five children of the Egyptian man suspected in the firebombing attack on demonstrators in Boulder who were calling for the release of Israeli hostages.

U.S. District Judge Gordon P. Gallagher granted a request from the family of Mohammed Sabry Soliman, 45, to halt deportation proceedings of his wife and children, who were taken into federal custody Tuesday by U.S. immigration officials.

Gallagher ordered the government not to remove the six family members from Colorado to preserve the court’s jurisdiction on the matter.

The deportation hold will stand until it is lifted by the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, or the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the judge wrote in the two-page temporary restraining order.

“The Court finds that deportation without process could work irreparable harm and an order must issue without notice due to the urgency this situation presents,” Gallagher wrote in the order issued Wednesday afternoon.

The Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday confirmed officials had detained Soliman’s wife, Hayam El Gamal, 41, and his 18-year-old daughter, Habiba Soliman.

Authorities also detained his four minor children, two sons and two daughters, but did not name the younger children or detail their ages. All are Egyptian citizens.

Mohammed Sabry Soliman is accused of carrying out a terror attack on Boulder’s Pearl Street Mall on Sunday. He is alleged to have shouted “Free Palestine” and used a makeshift flamethrower and Molotov cocktails to burn people who had gathered on the popular pedestrian mall for a weekly demonstration urging the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

The Boulder County district attorney’s office on Wednesday increased the number of victims in the attack, saying 15 people and a dog were hurt; all are expected to survive. Their ages range from 25 to 88, and include eight women and seven men.

“We continue to work closely with our federal, state and local partners in strong response to this horrific attack,” District Attorney Michael Dougherty said in a statement. “We are united in our commitment to pursuing justice for all the victims, their many loved ones, and this community. We stand with the Jewish community and the people of Colorado against hate and terror.”

Boulder spokesperson Jamie Barker said the dog suffered minor injuries, but no other details about the animal were available.

Soliman is expected to be charged in state court Thursday with dozens of criminal counts, including attempted murder. He has already been charged with a federal hate crime count in connection with the attack, which has shaken Colorado’s Jewish community.

Soliman lived in the Colorado Springs area with his family.

He spent 17 years living in Kuwait before he, his wife and five children arrived in the U.S. on Aug. 27, 2022, according to Homeland Security. They were granted entry to the U.S. until Feb. 26, 2023. Soliman overstayed his visa and applied for political asylum in Denver on Sept. 29, 2022, listing his wife and children as dependents, according to Homeland Security.

Soliman was granted a work authorization in March 2023, but that also expired.

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(Daily Camera reporter Nicky Andrews and Denver Post reporter Jessica Alvarado Gamez contributed to this report.)

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