Free an Abducted Community Interpreter!
UPDATE: ⚠️ Community interpreter has been freed from ICE detention. (06/25/2026)
After 8 months of imprisonment and pressure from our communities, Kubanych has finally been released and reunited with. his family!
ICE detained Kubanych while he was an interpreting for another asylum seeker, a blatant act of retaliation for his service to the community.
Kubanych is now back in Kyrgyzstan with his 4 young children and wife. Kubanych and his family are rebuilding their lives after the traumatizing experience of having a loved one abducted by ICE.
Before ICE kidnapped him in October 2025, Kubanych was exploited by a predatory lawyer who scammed the family out of thousands of dollars.
Now thousands of dollars in debt, Kubanych must also deal seek medical care for the severe toll that prolonged ICE detention had on his physical and mental health.
During 8 months of imprisonment in California City Detention Center he experienced torture, humiliation, and abuse. He lost 40 lbs from malnourishment and was denied care for his serious health conditions.
Let’s help Kubanych take his life back!
Contribute funds to cover his legal fees and help his family recover from this horrific experience: bit.ly/support-kubanych
Kubanych Moldobaev was illegally kidnapped by ICE while interpreting at a check-in for his friend. ICE has kept him imprisoned and in limbo for 8 months.
On October 30th 2025, ICE kidnapped Kubanych, an asylum seeker from Kyrgyzstan, while he was translating for his friend at an ISAP appointment in San Jose, CA.
Kubanych is a loving father of 4 young kids who volunteers his time to support seniors in his local immigrant community. Throughout his entire asylum process, Kubanych was fully compliant with ICE, never missing a single check-in.
The Trump administration has imprisoned him for 8 months in California City Detention Center where he reports witnessing and experiencing routine torture, humiliation, and abuse. He has lost 40 lbs from malnourishment and has been denied care for his serious health conditions.
“They tortured us all day in these handcuffs, like in that movie Hannibal, and tied our hands and feet. The only thing missing was a muzzle.
I have no words to describe what we’re experiencing here, other than complete inhumanity, injustice, helplessness, and lawlessness.
ICE and the prison staff make you feel like a powerless insect. You can’t help but fall into depression. It got to a point where I would rather die than suffer through this any longer.
I started telling ICE: Either send me home or kill me.”
Due to these appalling conditions, Kubanych made the difficult decision to give up his asylum claim in hopes of being released sooner. Even after requesting voluntary self-deportation and being ordered for removal in Jan. 2026, ICE has continued to keep him imprisoned.
ICE has repeatedly provided Kubanych with misleading and inaccurate information. In April, ICE claimed they contacted the Kyrgyz Consulate to process his removal. Kubanych later received notice that the consulate had not received any correspondence from ICE.
Kubanych has still not received an update on the status of his deportation process.
He continues to be detained despite also filing a habeas corpus petition in March.
“We are being abused and humiliated daily, but we can’t do anything about it.
My friend here was attacked by an officer who pepper sprayed him in the face and then accused him of being the aggressor. He simply wanted a thermos. The officer then called a whole group of officers for backup, blindfolded my friend and filmed it. They threw him in solitary confinement for 24 days. Everyone in our unit described exactly what happened, the entire chronology, down to the last second. Nearly 70 people signed off on it and we filed a complaint, but no one responded.
I’ve never seen anything like that before.
Human rights aren’t even a thing here, let alone the right to even exist.”
Kubanych is desperate to reunite with his wife and children. Please help end his suffering so that he can reunite with his family with dignity.
