The El Gamal family has been released from Dilley’s South Texas Immigration Processing Center after 10 months in the San Antonio-area detention facility. That stint that makes them the family detained the longest so far under the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration crackdown.
Hayam El Gamal and her five children, ages 5 to 18, were released Thursday evening after a judge had ordered their “immediate release” that morning.
The family’s attorneys told NBC that Hayam El Gamal is now seeking medical treatment she had been denied while detained. The mother had asked prison officials for medical help after discovering a painful lump in her breast.
“That’s the first thing we are doing is we are getting her medical attention,” Attorney Eric Lee told NBC.
After complaining of excruciating pain for weeks, Hayam El Gamal was rushed to the hospital in March, where a buildup of fluid was discovered around her heart. Doctors recommended a CT Scan and additional testing. However, the Department of Homeland Security and private company CoreCivic, which manages the detention facility, denied the request.
The El Gamals were first locked up in June 2025. Attorney Eric Lee told the Current that they were being held as political retribution for an antisemitic attack carried out by the children’s estranged father, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, in Colorado.
Hayam El Gamal condemned the attack and obtained a divorce from her husband while locked up in Dilley. Originally from Egypt, she and her children feared for their safety should they be returned to the country of origin.
NBC reports that El Gamal and Habiba Soliman, 18, the oldest child, will have to wear ankle monitors, but Lee said at least “they’ll be home.”
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