Consequences. How do they work again? Secretary of State Marco Rubio gave everyone a preview late yesterday:
In light of yesterday’s horrific attack, all terrorists, their family members, and terrorist sympathizers here on a visa should know that under the Trump Administration we will find you, revoke your visa, and deport you.
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) June 2, 2025
That was not a bluff or an academic statement. Earlier today, the Department of Homeland Security detained the family of the Boulder "Free Palestine" terrorists after the State Department revoked the visas for his wife and children. DHS now has the Solimans on the fast track to get booted out of the country, according to ABC News:
The wife and children of Boulder, Colorado, terrorism suspect Mohamed Soliman are in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the family is being processed for expedited removal, according to a Department of Homeland Security official.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed the actions on X/Twitter. However, Noem suggested that deportation may not be their only worry:
Today, @DHSgov and @ICEGov are taking the family of suspected Boulder, Colorado terrorist, and illegal alien, Mohamed Soliman, into ICE custody.
— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) June 3, 2025
This terrorist will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. We are investigating to what extent his family knew about this… pic.twitter.com/fcjMiyWil7
We are investigating to what extent his family knew about this heinous attack, if they had knowledge of it, or if they provided support to it. I am continuing to pray for the victims of this attack and their families. Justice will be served.
That seems a little curious. Strictly speaking, the investigation would take place at the Department of Justice rather than DHS. Noem may be using a broader sense of we in this instance, meaning the entire administration. Noem clearly can expedite the process of kicking the Solimans out of the country, however, as soon as the DoJ indicates that they don't plan to charge any of them with conspiracy or complicity in Soliman's terror attack on Jews in Boulder:
A DHS official said six people — Soliman's wife and children — were taken into ICE custody and will now be processed under expedited removal, which allows the government to deport migrants in the U.S. illegally without a court hearing. ...
Soliman is an Egyptian national who arrived in California in 2022 on a non-immigrant visa that expired in 2023, the Department of Homeland Security said. Officials previously said he had applied for asylum.
Will a federal court in Colorado put an injunction in place to stop the deportation? I can guarantee you the answer is no ... because the Solimans aren't in Colorado now. DHS has them detained in southern Texas, where even federal judges are less likely to interfere in a national-security situation:
Following his arrest on Sunday, ICE and Homeland Security Investigation agents have taken his family into federal custody, a Department of Homeland Security official told the Post.
The relatives — who were stripped of their visa status — are currently being held at a Dilley detention facility in southern Texas, where officials intend to deport the family using expedited removal, sources told The Post.
This is another indication that the DoJ may not have a lot of interest in the Solimans as potential accomplices. It stretches credulity a bit to accept Soliman's claim that he planned his Globalize the Intifada terrorist act for over a year and built 18 Molotov cocktails at his house without anyone else in the family noticing what he was doing. However, his wife apparently gave the FBI his cell phone voluntarily at the time of his arrest, unaware of what might be on it -- at least reportedly.
That also raises another question. Why did Soliman stop at two Molotov cocktails in the actual attack? He told the police that he lost his nerve:
A man accused of throwing Molotov cocktails at demonstrators in Boulder who were calling for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza, injuring 12 of them, had planned to kill them all but apparently had second thoughts, authorities said.
Mohamed Sabry Soliman, who was disguised as a gardener, had 18 Molotov cocktails but threw just two during Sunday's attack in which he yelled “Free Palestine," police said. Soliman, 45, didn’t carry out his full plan “because he got scared and had never hurt anyone before,” police wrote in an affidavit.
Yeah, well, maybe. Perhaps he worried more about a potentially lethal response from bystanders if the attack continued, or else the scattering of the demonstrators made further attacks with the firebombs nearly impossible to conduct.
At any rate, the consequences are piling up for the Solimans. The Trump administration isn't pussyfooting around, and they're not wasting time either. Presumably the Solimans will have a day or two to file a habeas motion, so a judge still could slow the process down. They won't succeed in it -- the State Department can revoke visas if a national security situation arises, and it certainly has with the Solimans. They will not have much time left in the US, and that will make the prosecution a very lonely process for Mohamed Soliman indeed.
This is how we start to disincentivize radical violent movements. Find every possible consequence and apply it hard, fast, and comprehensively. This is exactly what I voted for.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member