A federal judge in Colorado last week confirmed that the deportation case involving the family of Mohammed Soliman – the man convicted of the 2023 Boulder fire‑bombing – may proceed and that the family members can remain in detention. The decision comes as the family’s legal team, led by Eric Lee, argues that the move echoes the tactics of Nazi Germany.
Lee’s controversial client portfolio
Eric Lee is one of four lawyers representing the Soliman family. His reputation for defending individuals and groups described by the United States as extremist has become a focal point of the debate. Among his most prominent clients are:
- Helyeh Doutaghi, a research scholar at Yale Law School who was placed on leave after it emerged that he moonlighted as a member of Samidoun – a charity the U.S. government has labelled a “sham charity” and a front for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Doutaghi delivered a speech in Iran at a Samidoun‑sponsored film screening honouring Lebanese terrorist Georges Abdallah and travelled with a Samidoun delegation on a 2023 fact‑finding mission to Venezuela to assess the impact of U.S. sanctions.
- Rasha Alawieh, an assistant professor of medicine at Brown University, who was deported after authorities found evidence that she attended the funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon.
- Prahlad Iyengar, a student suspended from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology after the university accused him of supporting terrorism in an article that displayed PFLP flyers and argued that violence was necessary in the anti‑Israel movement to overcome “colonial oppression”.
- Momodou Taal, a Cornell University student whose visa was revoked in March after he praised Hamas’s 7 October attacks and called for the destruction of the United States. Taal sued the Trump administration over an executive order to expel pro‑Hamas visa holders; Lee represented him in both the lawsuit and the subsequent deportation proceedings. Lee argued that the order forced Taal to withdraw from “public engagement” and deprived his friends of the right to hear his ideas, which included urging campus protesters to take their “cue from the armed resistance in Palestine”.
Lee’s advocacy extends beyond the courtroom. At a speech before the Socialist Equality Party in London on 31 May, he asserted that “nobody, no reasonable person, can have any idea of what type of speech is antisemitic.” He has also shared posts from Unity of Fields, a self‑described militant front against the “US‑NATO‑Zionist axis of imperialism”, which boasted about detainees escaping an ICE detention centre and called for “MANY Al‑AQSA FLOODS!”.
Political activism and criticism
Lee has a long record of defending immigrants, earning an award for his involvement in a 2024 Supreme Court case – a case he ultimately lost. He has repeatedly criticised both major parties for abandoning “their responsibility of upholding democratic rights”. Since Donald Trump’s election, Lee has urged Americans, particularly in Los Angeles, to rise “forcefully” against the president and his immigration policies.
When approached for comment on his representation of the Soliman family and his broader client history, Lee did not respond.
Broader implications
The case has ignited a heated debate over the balance between national security, immigration enforcement and the limits of free speech. Some observers argue that Lee’s clients pose a genuine threat to American values, while others contend that they are victims of an overly broad and restrictive immigration regime.