Screenshot via X.
USA Today faced a wave of sharp backlash for its reporting about Habiba Solimanwhose father Mohamed Soliman was arrested and charged in connection with a firebombing attack in Boulder, Colorado.
According to police, Mohamed Soliman made firebombs using gasoline and shouted “Free Palestine!” as he threw the firebombs at Jewish people who were peacefully marching in support of the hostages held in Gaza by Hamas. Multiple people suffered serious burns, including an 88-year-old Holocaust survivor.
Mohamed Soliman is an Egyptian immigrant who overstayed a visa, and remains in custody for the firebombing. His wife and five children were taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) earlier this week, to be processed for “expedited removal,” according to media reports and then confirmed by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi calls.
DHS and ICE were “investigated to what extent his family knew about this heinous attack, if they had knowledge of it, or if they provided support to it,” wrote Noem in a tweet, vowing that Soliman “will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law” and “[j]ustice will be served.”
A USA Today article published on Tuesday was headlined “Habiba Soliman wanted to be a doctor. Then, her father firebombed Jewish marchers in Boulder,” and provided additional details about the family and how Mohamed Soliman told investigators he had “planned the attack for a year” and had delayed until his daughter Habiba graduated high school.
The article continued:
Habiba Soliman, her four siblings and their mother are now his latest victims. The family was arrested by immigration officials on June 3 and could soon be deported.
The crimes of the father have placed a target on the backs of his family at a time when the Trump administration is ramping up deportations of immigrants — regardless of legal status. The administration is enforcing a catch-and-revoke immigration policy, removing any immigrant, including visa holders, charged with criminal activity.
Habiba Soliman is repeatedly described in the article with flattering words.
“Before the attack, Habiba Soliman had written about her hope of accomplishing great things,” the article said, adding that her “favorite activity” was volunteering at a local hospital, and she had won a prestigious scholarship and was planning to study medicine. One of her teachers told the reporters she had “grown into a class leader through her thoughtful questions.”
The article’s sympathetic tone for Habiba Soliman drew shocked and angry reactions on social media, with many highlighting the relegation of the victims of the attack to a mere single sentence and questioned the lack of coverage for the plight of those who had been burned and their families.
The tweet by USA Today of the article was specifically called out for its caption, which read “Boulder suspect’s daughter dreamed of studying medicine. Now she faces deportation.”
One commenter asked Grok, the AI-chat bot on X, to list the medical schools in Egypt, presumably insinuating that deportation did not mean Habiba Soliman would not be able to be a doctor, just that she would not be able to remain in the U.S.
Below, a sampling of additional tweets:
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