The Woman Who Kept Showing Up
Armande Namegni did everything right. She followed the rules. She showed up.
A software engineer with two master’s degrees, she came to the U.S. in 2019 and applied for asylum through the proper legal process. In Missouri, she built a life—working full-time, paying taxes, serving in her church, and encouraging others as a personal trainer.
On January 22, she went to a routine ICE check-in.
She never came home.
A shoplifting charge that wasn’t hers—later refused by a judge—was enough to have her detained.
Inside the jail, Armande still shows up. She cleans, serves others, leads workouts, and gathers women for Bible study. One inmate said it’s the first time jail hasn’t felt like torture because of her.
It’s easy to assume the system gets it right. Armande’s story says otherwise.
She is not a statistic.
She is our friend, our neighbor—and she needs us now.
To help Armande:
Free Armade: https://www.freearmande.com/
Legal Defese & Care Fund: https://tinyurl.com/freearmande-gofundme
Armande Namegni, a software engineer seeking asylum in the U.S., never returned home after a routine ICE check-in on January 22.
