Can Entire Family Be Deported for Crime of One Member?

 The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday concerns a statement made by Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday: “all terrorists, their family members, and terrorist sympathizers here on a visa should know that under the Trump administration we will find you, revoke your visa, and deport you.”

What would cause Rubio to make such a statement? Mohamed Soliman (age 45 years), a resident of Colorado Springs, Colorado, “used a makeshift flamethrower and incendiary device as he shouted, ‘Free Palestine,’ and attacked a group of people in Boulder who were marching in solidarity with the Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.” Trying to burn people to death is an action not covered by Freedom of Speech!

Under normal conditions, only the criminal is punished for his/her crimes. However, sometimes a parent, sibling, or other relative are charged because they had prior knowledge that might have stopped the crime.

We do not know how much prior knowledge that Soliman’s wife and five children had, but they have been taken into federal custody and may be quickly deported. According to the New York Post, Soliman’s wife and five children were in the United States on visas that have been revoked by the State Department. Virginia Allen at The Daily Signal wrote the following: 

Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations have arrested the family of the lead suspect in the Boulder, Colorado, attack, according to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

Mohamed Soliman’s “despicable actions will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, but we’re also investigating to what extent his family knew about this horrific attack, if they had any knowledge of it, or if they provided support to it,” Noem said in a video on X Tuesday.

Fox New’s Bill Melugin first reported that Soliman’s wife and all five children are in federal custody.

“I’m being told the family is being processed for expedited removal, which allows rapid deportation without a hearing before an immigration court/judge,” Melugin, Fox News national correspondent, said….

“There is no room in the United States for the rest of the world’s terrorist sympathizers,” Noem wrote in a separate post on X Tuesday. “Anyone who thinks they can come to America and hide behind the First Amendment to advocate for antisemitic violence and terrorism – think again. You are not welcome here. We will find you, deport you, and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.”

“Our prayers are with the victims, families, and people of Boulder, Colorado. This evil has to stop now,” Noem said.

It seems to me that the wife and children are being treated harshly. However, other immigrants – particularly those who are in the United States illegally – may behave better after hearing that their entire family and group of friends may be deported for bad behavior on the part of one or more of them.

The fact is that being allowed to stay in the United States is not a right to any person coming from another nation. All immigrants should understand and remember that a visa to enter and stay here is a privilege that can be revoked at any time.