Danyil Kybukevych has been in ICE custody for nearly seven months, awaiting any sort of outcome on his immigration status. SEATTLE — When a baby girl was born last Thursday, her family named her Daniela — after her father, Danyil Kybukevych, who has never met her. Kybukevych has been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for nearly seven months, according to relatives who say he was taken into custody earlier this year while his wife was three months pregnant. A family member, Vasiliy, spoke to KING 5 but asked that his identity be concealed. He said he fears speaking publicly could negatively affect his own green card status. Vasiliy said Kybukevych was working as a long-haul truck driver when he was pulled over in Texas for what he described as a routine commercial vehicle inspection. During that stop, officers discovered that Kybukevych’s status under Uniting for Ukraine, or U4U, had expired. The federal program, launched in 2022, allows Ukrainians fleeing the war to enter the U.S. legally and has brought more than 250,000 Ukrainians to the country. A renewal that didn’t process According to Vasiliy, Kybukevych had filed his renewal on time. But earlier this year, the federal government paused all humanitarian parole renewals for four months. The family says that pause caused delays in Kybukevych’s renewal. Kybukevych has no criminal history, Vasiliy said. “We filed everything,” he said. “We can’t go back to an active war in the country, and yet nothing has been approved here.” ICE says Kybukevych remains in custody at a Texas facility because his documents were expired. A spokesperson said in a statement: “Danyil Kybukevych, 26, an illegal alien from Ukraine encountered by U. S. Border Patrol on May 20 at a checkpoint in Sarita, Texas. During inspection, Kybukevych presented expired (by two months) authorization documents to remain in the U.S. USBP arrested Kybukevych and served him with a notice to appear before an immigration judge at a later date. On May 29, USBP transferred Kybukevych to ICE custody at the Port Isabel Detention Center where he remains pending the outcome of his immigration proceedings.” His family has filed multiple legal actions—including asylum and a wrongful detention challenge—hoping to stop ICE from carrying out a deportation order. Vasiliy said the stakes are high if Kybukevych is forced to return to Ukraine. “Even though he wasn’t called into the military, he will be treated as a deserter,” he said. “Now you’re going straight to the frontlines… you’re going to get punished for that.” A newborn waiting at home Kybukevych’s wife and their three daughters—including the baby born last week—are preparing for the holidays without him. The family says relatives are helping as much as they can, but support can only stretch so far. “Even us… there’s only so much we can do,” Vasiliy said. For now, they wait, hoping Kybukevych can return home and meet his newborn daughter for the first time. If you would like to help the Kybuckevych family, they have set up a GoFundMe here.