Ester Soliman, 25-year Lancaster resident, deported by ICE

Twelve days after ICE arrested Soliman, she was put on a plane to the Philippines.

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  As the democracy reporter for WITF, I will cover any kind of story that has to do with how we govern ourselves. That will include doing a lot of election coverage about how to access the ballot, how public officials administer elections, the technology used to run and secure elections, and the laws that govern it all.
  
  My work will also include accountability coverage for elected officials that use their positions to then undermine democratic institutions, like the legislators that voted against the certification of the presidential election results on January 6, 2021. If that weren’t enough, I foresee covering some local government decisions, fights over public records and transparency, and some candidate coverage around the major elections. As seen in my coverage of immigrant of LGBTQ+ communities, I also report on the consequences of elections for minority groups.

 Brian Nguyen

Ester Soliman cooks in the Saint James Episcopal Church kitchen in Lancaster, Pa., on Nov. 9, 2024. ICE detained Ester Soliman on Aug. 4, 2025.

Update: This story was updated Aug. 15 between 6 to 7 p.m. to include a statement from an advocacy organization and to clarify the nature of a traffic incident. 

Ester Soliman was deported to the Philippines on Friday after living in Lancaster for 25 years, her family said. 

Her family said they received a call from their mother from the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, just before Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officials were putting her on a plane. 

“We are heartbroken and reeling, and we want her home more than we can communicate,” the family said in an update on its fundraising page to pay for an immigration attorney. “Please keep our entire family in your prayers as we determine our next steps.”

ICE arrested Soliman on Aug. 4 when she reported to a meeting under the Alternatives to Detention program at the agency’s York office. 

Soliman’s family never received notification from ICE that their mother was being deported, according to Damon Myers, a friend who has been acting as their spokesperson. Instead, the husband of a fellow detainee at the Clinton County Correctional Facility called Ester Soliman’s son, Sam, to say his mother had been moved. Sam and Soliman’s other two adult children, Sandra and Sanjee, remain in Lancaster. 

As of 1 p.m. Friday, Soliman was still shown in ICE’s online detainee locator, but the correctional facility had been removed. Once people are deported, they are removed from the system entirely. Efforts to reach Soliman’s attorney on Friday were not immediately successful.

When ICE returned Soliman’s phone in the airport, she called her children, according to Myers. In another statement to the fundraising page, the family called the situation “a nightmare.” 

ICE was not immediately available for a comment or to confirm the deportation but had previously released a statement on Soliman’s case. 

“She legally entered the U.S. on a B-2 tourist visa that allowed her to remain in the U.S. until March 4, 2000,” Tricia McLaughlin, the head of the Department of Homeland Security’s public communications, said Monday. “Over 25 years later, she is still illegally in the U.S. A judge issued her a final order of removal in 2011, and her appeal was denied.”

According to state court records, Soliman has two traffic tickets on record and no other incidents. A Manheim Township police officer issued Soliman citations on July 28, 2025, for improper safety restraints for a child under four years and for driving without a license. She was allowed to leave the scene after the citations when someone came to pick her up, according to Manheim Township Police Department spokesperson Sgt. Barry Waltz, Jr.

Soliman came to the U.S. with her husband, Albert S. Soliman, who died in 2015, according to a death notice published in LNP. Soliman never went back to the Philippines, according to Myers. Soliman still has family there, who have been notified and who plan to be at the airport when she lands. Her full name, as used by ICE, is Estrelita Soliman-Ramos. 

Earlier Friday, the family posted an update to the fundraising page that the government denied a legal motion, called a “stay of removal,” meant to postpone deportation. 

In that post, they called for help from the public to amplify Soliman’s case by calling elected officials in the hopes of keeping her in-country.

The advocacy and affinity group Lancaster Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders released a statement Friday evening calling Soliman “a cherished mother and friend” and said her deportation was a worst-case scenario.

“We are overwhelmed with grief and fury that our beloved Ester is not with her family in Lancaster, a place she has called home for 25 years,” Cindy Lam, president of Lancaster AAPI, said. “We are holding the entire Soliman family in our hearts right now as we process and mourn this new tragic reality.”

Over the last week, the family raised $88,431 through a crowdsourced fundraising tool called GoFundMe, an outpouring of support that surpassed their original goal of $35,000. 

Several notable public figures and community leaders gave money, including Rep. Izzy Smith-Wade-El, a Democrat whose 49th District includes half of Lancaster city. So did Lancaster Mayor Danene Sorace, City Council President Amanda Bakay, former Democratic county commissioner John Trescot, Sam Bressi of the Lancaster County Community Foundation, and Rabbi Jack Paskoff of the Shaarai Shomayim congregation.

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