Sobirjon Sobirov Khusen Ugli, a 35-year-old Uzbek man, is in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody after being arrested near his Brooklyn home on Oct. 14, federal officials said. Removal proceedings are underway, but the information released so far does not say whether Thailand has asked the United States to extradite him.
ICE says Sobirov admitted to killing his girlfriend in Thailand in 2013. The New York Post, citing press reports referenced by ICE, reported that he told police he put her body in a suitcase and dumped it in a canal. The available accounts do not establish whether he was convicted of that killing or served a sentence for it.
Two different legal processes
The current case described by ICE is an immigration removal proceeding, not an extradition case. The Executive Office for Immigration Review says removal proceedings begin when the Department of Homeland Security files a Notice to Appear with the immigration court after serving it. Immigration judges determine whether a person is removable and eligible for relief from removal, EOIR explains.
Extradition is a separate process in which one country seeks another country's surrender of a person wanted for prosecution or to serve a sentence after conviction, according to the Justice Department. The department says U.S. extradition is treaty-based. The U.S.-Thailand extradition treaty entered into force on May 17, 1991; its existence alone does not show that Thailand has sought Sobirov’s return.
A separate case illustrates the treaty process, but does not establish any request in Sobirov’s case. In remarks delivered in Bangkok in 2008, then-Attorney General Michael Mukasey described the extradition to Thailand of a U.S. citizen wanted over a 2001 plot to bomb the Vietnamese Embassy. The Justice Department said that extradition followed a request from Thailand under the treaty.
What ICE says about Sobirov’s U.S. record
ICE says Sobirov entered the United States through Lukeville, Arizona, in April 2023 with a group of 110 other border crossers, was released with a notice to appear in immigration court, and appeared for proceedings once, in May 2024. ICE also says he was convicted of felony theft in Uzbekistan in 2020 and sentenced there to five years in prison.
The agency also cited a 2024 NYPD arrest in Brooklyn for harassing communication and a restraining order issued that year by a Kings County Criminal Court judge. ICE New York City Field Office Director Kenneth Genalo said the agency targeted Sobirov as a public-safety threat in its announcement.
Sobirov remains in ICE custody while removal proceedings continue, officials said. The released information does not provide a hearing schedule or outcome, or indicate whether any extradition request has been made.
