A man who confessed to stuffing his girlfriend's corpse in a suitcase lived freely in New York City for over a year after crossing the southern border illegally — while federal judges in Colorado were blocking ICE from re-arresting illegal migrants those same judges had ordered released.
The two stories tell you everything about the bipartisan enforcement failure crushing ordinary Americans. A confessed murderer walks into the country, gets released by border authorities, and settles in Brooklyn. When ICE tries to enforce the law aggressively in Colorado, federal judges threaten the agency with contempt. The system shields illegal migrants from consequences while killers slip through.
Sobirjon Sobirov Khusen Ugli, a 35-year-old from Uzbekistan, was arrested by ICE near his Brooklyn home on Oct. 14, the agency announced Monday. According to the New York Post, Sobirov admitted to murdering his girlfriend in Thailand in 2013 — stuffing her body in a suitcase and dumping it in a canal. He was later convicted of felony theft in Uzbekistan in 2020 and sentenced to five years in prison.
Then, in April 2023, he crossed into the United States illegally through Lukeville, Arizona, detained with a group of 110 border crossers. He was released into the country with a notice to appear. He reported once, in May 2024. That's it. A confessed killer, processed and released into the interior, left to his own devices in a sanctuary city.
While living in New York, Sobirov was arrested by the NYPD for harassing communication and hit with a restraining order by a Kings County judge in 2024. The NYPD, bound by sanctuary city policy, apparently did not notify ICE. The confessed murderer remained free until federal agents finally tracked him down.
ICE New York City Field Office Director Kenneth Genalo said the agency "particularly" targets threats like Sobirov. "Our officers work every day to identify, arrest and remove criminal illegal aliens before they can cause further harm in our communities," he said in a statement.
Meanwhile, in Colorado, ICE officers trying to do exactly that kind of work were hauled into federal court. The Denver Post reported that Denver ICE's acting field director, Nathan Rasper, ordered deputies to re-arrest illegal migrants as soon as they were released from an Aurora facility after federal judges ordered them freed — a practice he claimed was meant to correct "technical" paperwork errors. At least 18 people were re-arrested under the scheme. Federal judges were furious. U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney ripped into the agency and said she was considering contempt proceedings. The policy has now ended.
The Denver Post framed ICE as the villain — instilling "fear" and violating court orders. The New York Post framed Sobirov as the menace he plainly is. Both framings are real. Federal judges blocking re-arrests and sanctuary cities refusing to cooperate with ICE create the exact conditions that allowed a confessed killer to roam Brooklyn. Border authorities releasing a man with an international rap sheet into the country created the rest.
Sobirov is now in ICE custody with removal proceedings underway. How many more like him are out there depends on which part of the system you trust — and neither party has earned that trust.
