On the morning of Jan. 22, Armande Namegni went for a run, then to the gym, showered and later rode with a friend to St. Louis from O'Fallon, Missouri, for her yearly Immigration and Customs Enforcement check-in.
A typical immigration check-in for Namegni would last about 40 minutes, but the Cameroonian asylum seeker said this time it took nearly three hours.
"Finally, when they called me, I went inside, but instead of standing at the door and getting a new notice to appear, I just went inside, and they said, 'Well, we're going to have to detain you today,'" she said. "I asked them, 'Why, what's different about today?' They said, 'We see a pending charge on your name.'"
Namegni, 29, said she was charged with shoplifting sometime last year, but her lawyer told her that the charge was misattributed to her and was supposed to be cleared from her record. However, Namegni said Immigration and Customs officers told her on Jan. 22 that it came up on CaseNet. St. Louis Public Radio searched the state's court case management system for this charge, but no results came up under Namegni's name.
As the lawyers worked on the misattribution case, they said people are often charged with a crime they never committed and were never convicted of, which is why fear never settled in during the immigration check-in process, she said.
St. Louis Public Radio reached out to Namegni's lawyer, but he did not immediately respond to a request for an interview.
After Namegni was detained, the officers took her cellphone and began a quick body search. She was able to retrieve a few numbers from her phone before the court released her belongings to her friend. Namegni was in a holding cell until she was taken by bus to the Phelps County jail in Rolla.
"When I first came to the jail, they put me in a smaller cell. They had two female cells, and they put me in the smaller one. I didn't have a bunk," she said while talking on a phone application in jail. "I slept on the floor for a couple of days until one of the ladies went home. I took her bunk, and then a couple of weeks later they pushed us all into a bigger cell, and I didn't have a place to sleep because it was crowded."
Namegni is one of thousands of people who have been detained by immigration enforcement officers over the past year under the Trump administration's enhanced effort to deport immigrants with violent records. Many people like her with no violent criminal records have been locked up and deported to their home countries or other countries.
Namegni, a software engineer and avid runner, tries to stay busy in the jail to help take her mind off the thought of being deported. To many inside, she is the resident workout trainer and spiritual guidance counselor.
"I try to make the environment as best as I can for myself and for everybody that is here by doing some cleaning every morning when I wake up, doing some gym activities, like some workouts with the girls, and doing some Bible study with them," she said. "It's been tough … at the end of the day, when I go to sleep, I'm like 'I just want to go.'"
Before she was detained, Namegni's days included running at least six miles a day, working out, reading scripture, working from home, going to church choir practice and spending time with loved ones.
"For me, running is more of taking away the emotional pain that I have and transforming it into a physical pain," she said. "If I feel sad about something — because I don't want to put it out on those that I love — I go for a run, and once I'm done with that, I know I'm OK."
The emotional pain Namegni speaks of is partly because of what she experienced in her home country of Cameroon prior to fleeing. She fled the African country in 2019 because of the ongoing civil war. She said if she had stayed in her war-stricken country at the time, she could have been killed.
After leaving Cameroon, she eventually made it to Brazil and traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border to claim asylum. She filed her work authorization forms and later came to St. Louis in 2022 to live with her aunt. Namegni had been working in the area while waiting to complete her asylum case. Her asylum hearing was set for sometime this year. If the judge had granted her asylum, she could have started the process to receive permanent residency.
'She's genuine'
Namegni's friends, family and co-workers have been devastated since she was detained. They worry for her safety and fate. Some of those friends have set up a GoFundMe to help pay for lawyer fees, since she was recently denied bond.
Joshua Blose rode with Namegni the day she was detained in St. Louis. He has been distraught ever since his friend was taken into custody, because he said he was not prepared for the worst.
"I really feel like I let her down because I really went in there and she did too, with an attitude of 'We're going to go sign some piece of paper, we're going to check in, we're going to get lunch, we'll be done and live our lives,'" Blose said. "I didn't prepare for them to take her because in my mind, until this point, that was not a possibility, because she didn't do anything wrong."
Blose met Namegni a few months ago on social media. The two friends enjoy working out and practicing their faith. Blose said Namegni has taught him how to be a better friend by continuously spreading joy.
"She's an absolute light, and if it's dark where you're at, and she's around, it's no longer dark," he said. "She's genuine, she cares … and she truly embodies the love of Jesus Christ that she shares everywhere she goes."
Friends like Blose have also been advocating for state lawmakers to help Namegni come home while she fights her case. Namegni said her lawyer is working to get a bond set but has not yet been successful.
"I just want to be with my family and friends and be able to go back to the life and job that I have been trying to build," Namegni said.
Copyright 2026 St. Louis Public Radio
