Former Cincinnati Children’s chaplain shares his ordeal after being detained by ICE for 73 days

“I don’t think there was one day that I didn’t think of deportation and execution,” were the words of Ayman Soliman, a former Cincinnati Children’s chaplain who spent weeks locked up in an ICE prison cell. “I was very stressed out, trying to get used to this life that I never imagined I’d be in one day.”

In 2014, Ayman Soliman fled Egypt, citing persecution and threats, and found a home in the United States. By 2021 he had become a chaplain at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, where he ministered to children and families in crisis: “It was my life and I’m not exaggerating,” he told local news when they came to interview him about his experience.

However, the chaplain’s life took an unexpected turn in December, when he received notification from U.S. authorities that his asylum status was under review, followed in June by a letter stating he was no longer eligible for asylum because of alleged “material support” to a “tier-three terrorist undesignated organisation”.

Chaplain feared deportation, execution or torture

“You are not eligible for asylum. And they came up with a new thing, which was because you provided material support to a tier three terrorist undesignated terrorist organization,” Soliman revealed.

On 9 July, a routine check-in with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) became a turning point: Soliman was arrested and placed in detention at the Butler County Jail, where he spent 73 days in custody, during which he feared deportation, execution or torture if returned to Egypt. “If anything happens, just to speak about me, this is unfair. And going back to Egypt for me, it’s a death sentence. I didn’t come to America seeking a better life.”

While inside the jail, Soliman did simply sit back and watch the world go by from his window. He reached out to fellow inmates, offering spiritual support and human connection. “Maybe God brought me here to just do that voluntarily. And actually, that’s a beautiful thing and something that might actually distract me from thinking of the injustice. So I, connected to some of the most beautiful people I have ever met in my life,” he said.

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In September he was released and his asylum status was reinstated, an outcome his legal team described as surprising given the government’s earlier stance. Reflecting on the moment, Soliman described it as being “reborn”: “That told me that I’m not going to die and I’m not going to get deported, and I’m going to live in this country, safe... It is a moment that I can never describe. I was just, reborn in that day, and it was beyond my dreams."

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