WASHINGTON \u2014 An Egyptian family which was released from more than 10 months of immigration detention following court orders was taken into custody again by federal authorities for several hours on Saturday, the family\u2019s legal team said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hayam El Gamal and her five children aged 5 to 18 were detained less than 48 hours after a federal judge had ordered their release, the family\u2019s legal team said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The family, which lives in Colorado, was arrested as they complied with a requirement to check in at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Denver, according to The Colorado Sun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ICE had put them on a plane that would have flown to Michigan \u201cand then outside the United States to an unknown location,\u201d the family\u2019s legal team said. Eric Lee, a lawyer for the family, later said a federal court granted an emergency motion to stop the planned deportation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lee posted early on Sunday that \u201cICE just released the El Gamal family,\u201d saying their detention violated court orders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a statement on Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security said the family was receiving \u201cfull due process\u201d and cast the judge who ordered the family\u2019s release as an \u201cactivist judge\u201d who is \u201creleasing this terrorist\u2019s family onto American streets AGAIN.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are confident the courts will ultimately vindicate us,\u201d the DHS\u2019 acting assistant secretary, Lauren Bis, said. The statement did not address why the family was detained on Saturday after Thursday\u2019s ruling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
El Gamal and the children were released from their earlier detention on Thursday after U.S. District Judge Fred Biery ordered their release following a similar separate ruling earlier in the week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The family was first \u200btaken into federal custody last June. Their immigration detention, the longest for a family under President Donald Trump\u2019s administration, began after \u200bEl Gamal\u2018s ex-husband, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, was charged with \u200battempted murder, assault and a federal hate crime following last year\u2019s firebomb attack in Boulder, Colorado.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.S. government has previously said it was investigating how much the family knew about the attack. El Gamal, who divorced Soliman after his arrest, has condemned the Boulder attack and said the family \u2060had no knowledge of any plans for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump has defended his immigration crackdown as necessary to curb illegal immigration and reduce crime. Critics and rights groups have said the DHS campaign violates due \u200bprocess and free speech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n