June 02, 2025 10:19 AM UTC

Political Blame Game Follows Horrific Boulder Terror Attack

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• by: Colorado Pols

We like everyone else are watching for new information on yesterday’s apparent terror attack on a group walking down Boulder’s Pearl Street Mall as part of a demonstration in support of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. Colorado Newsline reports:

Eight victims ranging in age from 52 to 88 were transported to hospitals in the region, police said. One was described as being in critical condition, with other victims’ injuries ranging from serious to minor.

The suspect, 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Saliman, was taken into custody by police and was treated for minor injuries at a hospital, Mark D. Michalek, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Denver field office, said during a Sunday evening press conference…

Participants in the Boulder branch of Run For Their Lives, which organizes events calling for the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, were the apparent target of the attack.

Michalek said the suspect was “heard to yell ‘Free Palestine’ during the attack.” He called it a “targeted act of violence” and said the FBI was investigating it as an act of terrorism.

The suspect, an Egyptian national, had reportedly overstayed a visa that expired in March of this year. Fox News quickly had these details, which they nonetheless attempted to lay at the feet of the previous administration despite the fact that Mohamed Saliman’s permit to legally work in the U.S. expired after Biden left office:

Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sources told Fox News Soliman is in the country illegally as a visa over-stay, who came in during the Biden administration.

He allegedly flew into the U.S. on Aug. 27, 2022, arriving at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on a B1/B2 non-immigrant visa. Soliman was authorized to stay through Feb. 26, 2023, but never left, according to officials. On Sept. 29, 2022, he filed a claim, possibly for asylum.

On March 29, 2023, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), under the Biden administration, gave him work authorization, which was valid through March of this year. [Pols emphasis]

Unless the Biden administration was expected to be clairvoyant, it does appear that the responsibility for Saliman remaining in the country after his work authorization expired in March is on the Trump administration. It’s not a discussion we wanted to have on the morning after this terrible tragedy, but due to this concerted attempt to twist the record as it’s being written it’s necessary to point out that Soliman’s legal status expired in March–in the middle of the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration, yet somehow Soliman was still in the country on June 1st to carry out this terror attack.

What we have here, until we receive more information, is a tragic and apparently ideologically motivated attack on Jewish people who were peacefully demonstrating in support of hostages held by Hamas. For supporters of the Palestinian cause, it’s a another terrible setback for their efforts to win over public opinion on the war in Gaza. There is no comfort to be had in any details of this horrific event, but the fact is that it was not carried out by an American citizen involved in the debate over Gaza either way. This was the closest thing we’ve had in some years to an authentic foreign terror attack on American soil.

None of these details appear to matter to Colorado Republicans, who wasted no time turning the discussion to the domestic and political:

All we can say is that neither of these initial reactions from Rep. Lauren Boebert and Rep. Gabe Evans fit the facts as they’ve been reported so far. As the investigation into this attack continues, it’s likely that details will emerge to further complicate easy political pigeon-holing. Talking heads on all sides should be careful to avoid statements that age poorly, but based on experience, depressingly few especially on the right are likely to take that advice.

With all of this necessarily entered into the record, our sympathy and sincere best wishes to everyone affected.