Biden policy led to petrol bomb attack, says Trump

Donald Trump has blamed Joe Biden’s ‘ridiculous open-door policy’ for allowing an iimmigrant to remain in the US and launch an attack on a Jewish event in Colorado.

Mohamed Sabry Soliman during the attack on the community event in Boulder, Colorado. Picture: Lisa Turnquist via AP.

US President Donald Trump has sought to blame Joe Biden’s “ridiculous open-door policy” for allowing an illegal immigrant to remain in the US and launch an attack on a Jewish community event in Boulder, Colorado.

Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, an Egyptian national who overstayed his visa, allegedly shouted “Free Palestine” and hurled petrol bombs at elderly rally-goers marching on Sunday afternoon, in support of Israeli hostages held in Gaza by Hamas.

“He (Soliman) came in through Biden’s ridiculous Open Border Policy, which has hurt our Country so badly,” Mr Trump posted on Truth Social. “This is yet another example of why we must keep our Borders SECURE, and deport Illegal, Anti-American Radicals from our Homeland.”

The President, who has often used crimes such as this to build support for his immigration policies, said the incident underscored the need for his administration’s crackdown on undocumented migrants and that the suspect must “go out under ‘Trump’ Policy”.

Mr Soliman arrived in California in 2022 on a non-immigrant visa that expired in February 2023, and had been living in the Colorado Springs area.

He filed a new claim and was granted work authorisation in March 2023 by the Biden administration. The authorisation expired at the end of March this year, at which point he appears to have remained in the US illegally.

The attack touched on two of the country’s most partisan and dividing issues, the Gaza war and immigration.

It took place as people with a volunteer group called Run For Their Lives were concluding their weekly demonstration through downtown Boulder. The suspect was alleged to have been waiting for the group at one of their scheduled stops.

The injured victims – four men and four women – ranged in age from 52 to 88 and included a Holocaust survivor described by friends as an “incredible and loving person”. In a video shared ­online a shirtless man holding bottles containing pieces of red cloth paces near the county courthouse as the grass in front of him burns.

Witnesses said the man shouted: “F..k you Zionists. You’re killing my people so I kill you,” and “End Zionists! You are killing children,” in an apparent reference to the children killed in Gaza by Israeli forces.

They also heard someone in the crowd say: “We are here, we can’t do nothing about that.”

Rally-goers said the suspect went behind some bushes and then re-emerged and threw a petrol bomb, but accidentally set fire to himself. The man then took off his shirt and what appeared to be a bulletproof vest before the police arrived. Investigators found 16 additional petrol bombs in the area.

Alexsandra Varela, 23, was working at Art Mart Gifts shop when screams pierced the afternoon lull. Terrified, she ran to lock the doors. Some of the braver witnesses told the attacker to stop, she said. Varela could see the victims lying by the courthouse; their red, burnt skin exposed. “They were crying,” she said. “I saw this lady. She was laid on the floor, and I don’t know if she is the victim that was really hurt, but she didn’t move at all, and people were putting water on her.”

The victims’ injuries ranged from serious to minor, officials said.

Jail records show Mr Soliman is facing two potential charges of first-degree murder, despite the fact no one was killed, as well as one charge of attempted murder, one of first-degree assault, one of causing serious injury to an at-risk adult or someone over 70 and one of using explosives or incendiary devices.

Todd Lyons, acting director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said: “There are millions of individuals like this that we are attempting to locate from the past administration that weren’t properly screened.”

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