FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | September 22, 2025
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On September 19, 2025, MLFA’s Immigration Litigation Attorneys, Kathryn Brady and Franchel Daniel, received confirmation that their client, Ayman Soliman, would soon be walking out of ICE Custody, which he did just hours later to cheers from his friends and supporters in Cincinnati, OH. A few hours earlier, an ICE detention officer at Butler County, Ohio jail unceremoniously gave Ayman a short letter from the USCIS Chicago Asylum Office that stated it had rescinded its termination of his asylum status and reaffirmed he was once again an asylee. DHS prosecutors filed a motion to dismiss the removal proceedings in immigration court, ending the imminent risk that Ayman would quickly be deported to Egypt, a country where he feared arrest, torture, and even death. Although MLFA is thrilled that Ayman gained his freedom from ICE custody after 72 days, we also know that this miscarriage of justice never should have happened.
DHS orchestrated this charade starting in December 2024 when USCIS initiated asylum termination proceedings after it falsely labeled his local charitable activities in Egypt, including planning sponsorships of poor students, coordination of medical convoys, educational programming, and speaking at mosques as material support of an undesignated terrorist organization. Notably, Ms. Brady already knew this week’s legal conclusion was the correct one back in February 2025 at the asylum termination hearing when she stated to the USCIS Asylum Officer in Chicago, “…[T]he government has not shown by a preponderance of evidence that it should terminate Mr. Soliman’s asylum [status.]” DHS’s rapid backpedaling stands in stark contrast to its willingness to publicly provide misinformation to the immigration court through its filings. One week after Ayman was detained, Ms. Daniel stated that “an appropriate analysis of the evidence will show that Ayman has no connection to any terrorist organization or activity.” In rescinding its revocation of his asylum and reinstating his asylum status, USCIS confirmed Ms. Daniel’s prediction.
MLFA’s amazing victory for Ayman came amidst our aggressive preparation for his immigration trial, less than one week away, along with Robert Ratliff, our Cleveland, Ohio co-counsel. Less than 12 hours earlier, Ms. Daniel finalized and filed our response in the federal court in the Southern District of Ohio to the government’s motions to dismiss Ayman’s habeas case that demanded this exact outcome. This was just a few days after she perfected our Board of Immigration appeal of the immigration judge’s repeated denial of bond jurisdiction. In less than 100 days since DHS initiated removal proceedings against Ayman, MLFA and the rest of his immigration legal team pursued multiple bids for his release from custody, attended nearly a dozen hearings, filed his updated application for asylum with hundreds of pages of supporting documents, and repeatedly pointed out the government’s misrepresentations in immigration court, federal court, and at the Board of Immigration Appeals filings.
MLFA’s Immigration Litigation Department, along with our broad coalition of advocates in Ohio, highlighted DHS’s systematic injustice in Ayman’s immigration case. But there is still more work to do for him! Kathryn and Franchel are once again focusing on Ayman’s pending green card application that’s been pending at USCIS since October 2018. Stay tuned for our next update!
