Homeland Security Vows to Ramp up Crackdown on Overstayed Visas: 'We Will Find You, Deport You, and Prosecute You'

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a renewed focus on visa overstays following this past weekend's violent attack in Boulder, Colorado, allegedly carried out by an Egyptian national who had remained in the United States unlawfully since 2022.

According to an official statement issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has directed U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and USCIS to intensify the review of immigration records and take "immediate appropriate actions" to identify and remove individuals who have overstayed visas.

"There is NO room in the United States for the rest of the world's terrorist sympathizers," Secretary Noem said in the release. "Anyone who thinks they can come to America and advocate for antisemitic violence and terrorism — think again. You are not welcome here. We will find you, deport you, and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law."

The move comes after the arrest of 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Soliman, who is accused of launching a premeditated attack on participants at a weekly event organized by the group Run for Their Lives, which advocates for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

Authorities say Soliman threw incendiary devices and used a makeshift flamethrower to injure at least eight people. The FBI is investigating the incident as an act of terrorism. Court documents state Soliman admitted he planned the attack for a year, targeting what he described as "Zionist people."

Federal officials confirmed that Soliman entered the U.S. on a non-immigrant visa in 2022, which expired in February 2023. He had applied for asylum later that year. During his arrest, investigators recovered 16 unlit Molotov cocktails and a gasoline-filled sprayer near the scene.

A federal judge on Wednesday ordered a halt to the deportation of his family, a day after the White House said the family's deportation was imminent. "Defendants SHALL NOT REMOVE," Soliman's wife and her five children from the District of Colorado or the United States "unless or until this Court or the Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit vacates this order," wrote Judge Gordon P. Gallagher of the US District Court in Colorado in the order.