'Terrified' MAGA couple turns on Trump after brutal encounter: 'We are living in fear'
Donald Trump walks from Marine One to the White House. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
August 16, 2026
A man who voted for President Donald Trump three times is decrying the administration after his wife's arrest left her "terrified."
A Sunday article by The New York Times detailed how Brent Jindra and his Russian wife Galina Bobreneva were left rattled after a 16-day ordeal in which she was detained in a basement holding cell by immigration enforcement.
The couple got off a flight in Burbank, California, and an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in a brown hoodie stopped Bobreneva for questioning before handcuffing her and taking her away in an unmarked vehicle. She was held in Los Angeles then spent two weeks in a Mojave Desert detention center before being freed on a $35,000 bond, according to The Times.
"The allure of the MAGA campaign was around illegal entries of criminals," Jindra, her husband, said. "There was never a mandate for this president to turn the barrel of the gun and start going after people who legally entered."
Bobreneva was released with an electronic ankle monitor and is still fighting to stay in the United States. The Department of Homeland Security told The Times that she was "an illegal alien" who was detained because "she overstayed her welcome in violation of our nation's laws."
According to The Times, Bobreneva has a pending green card application, but her lawyer argues that she was never out of lawful status.
She told The Times that she was held in a frigid room with a handful of other women, including one who was a diabetic in her 70s, pleading for insulin to no avail.
Since her arrest, Bobreneva has been "struggling to sleep and was terrified of being detained again," The Times reported, adding that Jindra was also "nervous."
"I never thought that it was so easy to take freedom from anyone," Bobreneva said.
"We are living in fear in my own country," Jindra added.