{"id":11983,"date":"2025-07-30T17:18:32","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T17:18:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/?p=11983"},"modified":"2025-07-30T17:18:43","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T17:18:43","slug":"ayman-soliman-challenges-unlawful-asylum-termination-in-federal-court-seeks-immediate-release-from-detention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/30\/ayman-soliman-challenges-unlawful-asylum-termination-in-federal-court-seeks-immediate-release-from-detention\/","title":{"rendered":"Ayman Soliman challenges unlawful asylum termination in Federal Court; Seeks immediate release from detention"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Lynn Tramonte<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Courtesy of Lynn Tramonte, Executive Director of Ohio Immigrant Alliance<\/em><\/p>\n

Cincinnati, Ohio:\u00a0Ayman Soliman, an Egyptian national granted political asylum in the United States in 2018, has filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio (Western Division) challenging the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services\u2019 (USCIS) decision to terminate his asylum status. The complaint, filed on July 24, 2025, alleges that the termination is arbitrary, capricious, and violates federal law, including the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), and due process under the Fifth Amendment.<\/p>\n

Soliman, a Cincinnati resident and former chaplain at Cincinnati Children\u2019s Hospital, arrived in the U.S. in 2014, fleeing persecution in Egypt in retaliation for his freelance work with journalism crews. He was granted asylum after a thorough review by USCIS. No terrorism-related concerns were raised at the time of his asylum grant. He is currently being held at the Butler County Jail in Hamilton, Ohio. On July 22 an immigration court hearing addressed custody and bond issues, but those proceedings remain ongoing, with the next hearing scheduled for July 29, 2025.<\/p>\n

On June 3, 2025, USCIS terminated Soliman\u2019s asylum status, claiming that through his involvement with the charitable organization Al-Gam\u2019iyya al-Shar\u2019iyya (GS) he had provided \u201cmaterial support\u201d to the Muslim Brotherhood (MB)\u2014which the terminating asylum officer deemed an undesignated Tier III terrorist organization. The decision relies heavily on two pre-2018 academic reports which USCIS alleges show links between GS and MB. However, the authors of both reports have submitted letters refuting USCIS\u2019s interpretation, stating that GS is a decentralized, non-political charity with no organizational ties to MB and that the government misrepresented the reports. One author, Steven Brooke, an Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, emphasized that GS operates independently and cooperates with various groups and the Egyptian government for charitable purposes only. The other author, Marie Vannetzel, a researcher at France\u2019s National Center for Scientific Research, described GS as a \u201cpara-public\u201d service agency aiding Egypt\u2019s underserved population, with any historical MB involvement limited and non-terrorist in nature.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit argues that USCIS\u2019s asylum termination lacks new evidence, contains factual errors, improperly shifts the burden of proof, and violates\u00a0res judicata<\/em>\u00a0by relitigating issues settled by USCIS\u2019s grant of asylum in 2018. \u201cThis termination is not based on facts or law but on a misguided reinterpretation of old information,\u201d said\u00a0Robert A. Ratliff, Soliman\u2019s attorney with Brennan, Manna & Diamond, LLC.\u00a0\u201cAyman has built a life in Cincinnati, contributing to his community, and now faces deportation to a country where he risks torture and death. We\u2019re fighting to restore his rightful asylum status.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to the complaint seeking to vacate USCIS\u2019s asylum termination and reinstate Soliman\u2019s status, Soliman has filed emergency motions for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) and Preliminary Injunction. These motions request immediate release from detention and a stay of removal proceedings in immigration court to prevent irreparable harm, including family separation, health risks in custody, and potential deportation. He lost his employment authorization, leading to financial hardship for him and his family.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe public interest demands we uphold due process and protect those who\u2019ve sought refuge from persecution. This action by a lone USCIS employee, vacating prior asylum grants without factual or legal support or new evidence, jeopardizes the lawful immigrant status of all immigrants,\u201d\u00a0Ratliff stated.<\/p>\n

Soliman\u2019s case highlights broader concerns about USCIS\u2019s handling of asylum terminations, particularly for individuals from Muslim-majority countries. Groups like the American Civil Liberties Union-Ohio (ACLU-Ohio) and the Ohio Immigrant Alliance have voiced support for his case. Soliman seeks to have the court reverse the asylum termination, reinstate his asylum status and associated benefits, grant attorneys\u2019 fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act, and grant an injunction against future terminations on the same grounds.<\/p>\n

UPDATE: Ayman Soliman received notice July 28, 2025 that the Immigration Judge will not exercise jurisdiction in making a bond determination in his case, so that he will remain detained in the Butler County Jail for now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Courtesy of Lynn Tramonte, Executive Director of Ohio Immigrant Alliance Cincinnati, Ohio:\u00a0Ayman Soliman, an Egyptian national granted political asylum in the United States in 2018, has filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio (Western Division) challenging the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services\u2019 (USCIS) decision to terminate his<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11283,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_rtcl_gb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[268],"class_list":["post-11983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"aioseo_notices":[],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/lynn-tramonte.jpg",700,700,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/lynn-tramonte.jpg",700,700,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/lynn-tramonte.jpg",700,700,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/lynn-tramonte-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/lynn-tramonte-300x300.jpg",300,300,true],"large":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/lynn-tramonte.jpg",640,640,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/lynn-tramonte.jpg",700,700,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/lynn-tramonte.jpg",700,700,false],"rtcl-gallery":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/lynn-tramonte-700x462.jpg",700,462,true],"rtcl-thumbnail":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/lynn-tramonte-320x240.jpg",320,240,true],"rtcl-gallery-thumbnail":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/lynn-tramonte-150x105.jpg",150,105,true],"psacp-medium":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/lynn-tramonte.jpg",500,500,false],"rpwe-thumbnail":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/lynn-tramonte-45x45.jpg",45,45,true]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"LaPrensa Newspaper","author_link":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/author\/laprensa\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"Articles<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Courtesy of Lynn Tramonte, Executive Director of Ohio Immigrant Alliance Cincinnati, Ohio:\u00a0Ayman Soliman, an Egyptian national granted political asylum in the United States in 2018, has filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio (Western Division) challenging the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services\u2019 (USCIS) decision to terminate his","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11983"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11983\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11984,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11983\/revisions\/11984"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11983"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=11983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}