The Egyptian man charged with injuring a dozen people in Boulder, Colorado, in an attack on demonstrators seeking the release of Israeli hostages is among hundreds of thousands of people known to overstay their visas each year in the United States.
Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, was born in Egypt and moved three years ago to Colorado Springs, where he lived with his wife and five children, according to state court documents. He lived for 17 years in Kuwait.
Soliman entered the country in August 2022 on a tourist visa that expired in February 2023, according to Tricia McLaughlin, spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security. She said Soliman filed for asylum in September 2022 and was granted a work authorization in March 2023, but that also expired. The department did not respond to requests for additional information.
Federal immigration authorities took Soliman's wife and children into custody Tuesday. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said authorities were investigating whether his family knew about his plan.
There were 565,155 visa overstays from October 2022 through September 2023 among visitors who arrived by plane or ship — more than the population of the metro areas of Reno, Nevada, or Chattanooga, Tennessee, according to Homeland Security's most recent annual report.
The total number of overstays is much larger but has not been quantified because it does not include how many people arrive and leave by land. The cost and technological hurdles to develop a checkout system at congested land crossings are enormous.
The overstay rate for Egyptians on business or tourist visas was 4% in 2023, well below some of the biggest offenders such as Chad (49%), Laos (34%) and Sudan (26%).
Historically, academics have estimated that roughly 40% of people in the United States illegally stayed past their visas, but reliable numbers are difficult to come by. In 2016, Homeland Security published the number of overstays for the first time in at least two decades.
Homeland Security did not say.
But asylum seekers become eligible for work authorization 180 days after arrival. That correlates with him arriving in the country in August 2022 and obtaining the work permit in March 2023.
Some critics say work permits create a huge magnet for asylum applications from people with weak cases. Immigration courts are backlogged with about 3.6 million cases, which can take years to resolve.
The relative ease with which asylum seekers gain work permits has also fueled some tensions with people who have been in the country illegally for years or decades.
Immigration court records are not public, and the status of Soliman’s asylum case is unclear.
Egyptians had an asylum grant rate of 72% during the 12-month period through September 2024, compared with 45% for all nationalities, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.
FILE - Bouquets of flowers stand along a makeshift memorial for victims of an attack outside of the Boulder County, Colo., courthouse on Tuesday, June 3, 2025, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski,File)
FILE - Boulder, Colo., Police Department officers walk the Pearl Street Mall in front of the county courthose where an attack occurred Monday, June 2, 2025, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski,File)
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks of credit-card companies are tumbling on Monday after President Donald Trump threatened moves that could eat into their profits. The rest of Wall Street, meanwhile, was showing only modest signals of concern after tensions ramped to a much higher degree between the White House and the Federal Reserve.
The S&P 500 edged down by 0.1% from its all-time high as U.S. stocks drifted through mixed morning trading, while prices for gold and other investments that tend to do well when investors are nervous rose. The value of the U.S. dollar also dipped against the euro and other currencies amid concerns that the Fed may have less independence in setting interest rates to keep inflation under control.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 179 points, or 0.4%, as of 10 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was nearly unchanged.
Some of the market's sharpest drops came from credit-card companies, as Synchrony Financial, Capital One Financial and American Express all fell between 4% and 7%. They sank after Trump said he wanted to put a 10% cap on credit-card interest rates for a year. Such a move could eat into profits for credit card companies.
But it was a separate move by Trump that was grabbing more attention on Wall Street. Over the weekend, the Federal Reserve's chair, Jerome Powell, said the U.S. Department of Justice subpoenaed the Fed and threatened a criminal indictment over his testimony about renovations underway at its headquarters.
With an unusual video statement released on Sunday, Powell said his testimony and the renovations are “pretexts” for the threat of criminal charges, which is really “a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President.”
The Fed has been locked in a feud with the White House about interest rates. Trump has been loudly calling for lower interest rates, which would make borrowing cheaper for U.S. households and companies and could give the economy a kickstart.
The Fed did cut its main interest rate three times last year and has indicated more cuts may be arriving this year. But it’s been moving slowly enough that Trump has nicknamed Powell “Too Late.”
In a brief interview with NBC News Sunday, President Donald Trump insisted he didn’t know about the investigation into Powell. When asked if the investigation is intended to pressure Powell on rates, Trump said, “No. I wouldn’t even think of doing it that way.”
Powell’s term as chair ends in May, and Trump administration officials have signaled that he could name a potential replacement this month. Trump has also sought to fire Fed governor Lisa Cook.
The Fed has traditionally operated separately from the rest of Washington, making its decisions on interest rates without having to bend to political whims. Such independence, the thinking goes, gives it freedom to make unpopular moves that are necessary for the economy’s long-term health.
Keeping interest rates high, for example, could slow the economy and frustrate politicians looking to please voters. But it could also be the medicine needed to get high inflation under control.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury ticked up to 4.19% from 4.18% late Friday. A less independent Fed and higher inflation in the long term could also erode the value of the U.S. dollar, and it slipped 0.3% against the euro and 0.4% against the Swiss franc.
In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia. Stocks jumped 1.4% in Hong Kong and 1.1% in Shanghai for two of the world’s bigger gains following reports that Chinese leaders were preparing more help for the economy.
AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
James Lamb works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Specialist Anthony Matesic works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Daniel Kryger works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Dealers watch computer monitors near the screens showing the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A dealer walks near the screens showing the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won and the Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (KOSDAQ) at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Dealers talk near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A dealer walks near the screens showing the foreign exchange rates at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
