A Pattern of Representing Radical Figures
Eric Lee, the attorney representing the family of Mohammed Soliman, the Egyptian national accused of firebombing a pro-Israel event in Boulder, Colorado, has built a career defending clients with ties to anti-Israel and radical organizations. The Trump administration seeks to deport Soliman's wife, Hayam El Gamal, and their five children for visa overstays, with Lee arguing such actions echo "Nazi Germany's tactics." A judge recently allowed deportation proceedings to continue while the family remains detained.
Lee's client list includes Helyeh Doutaghi, a Yale Law School research scholar linked to Samidoun, a group the U.S. government sanctioned in October 2024 as a "front organization" for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a designated terrorist entity. Doutaghi promoted Samidoun events, including a 2023 Venezuela trip to assess "U.S. sanctions" and a film screening honoring Lebanese terrorist Georges Abdallah. Lee declined to confirm Doutaghi's Samidoun membership during an interview, comparing such questions to "McCarthyism."
Lee also represented Rasha Alawieh, a Brown University faculty member deported after attending Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's funeral, and Prahlad Iyengar, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology student suspended for writings advocating violence against "colonial oppression." Iyengar's article urged anti-Israel activists to embrace "armed resistance" and reject "pacifist strategies" as a "charade."
Activism Beyond the Courtroom
Lee's own public statements have drawn scrutiny. In a May 2024 speech to the Socialist Equality Party, he dismissed definitions of antisemitism as unclear, while sharing social media posts from Unity of Fields, a group opposing the "US-NATO-zionist axis", that celebrated ICE detention center unrest and referenced Hamas's "Al-Aqsa Floods" attack. He later cited the Declaration of Independence's "right to revolution" in advocating confrontational resistance to immigration policies.
Lee, who lost a 2024 Supreme Court immigration case but earned recognition for his efforts, has criticized both parties for failing immigrants. During the 2024 campaign, he accused President Joe Biden of adopting "Hitler's talking points" on border security and warned that sanctuary policies alone couldn't counter Trump-era deportation tactics. In a Slate op-ed, he urged "forceful" mobilization of schools, workplaces, and communities to protect immigrants, arguing legal battles alone were insufficient.
Lee did not respond to a request for comment.