Composite story
Louisville mother detained by ICE at green card interview as Metro Hall rally seeks her release
Louisville, KentuckyPublished 31 Aug 2026
Nyttend / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain · source
Armelle Bondonga, 21, was taken into ICE custody Aug. 12 at a marriage-based green card interview in front of her U.S.-citizen husband and toddler. Supporters rallied at Louisville Metro Hall as a bond hearing loomed in Indianapolis.
Armelle Bondonga, a 21-year-old Louisville mother from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was detained by ICE on Aug. 12 at a scheduled marriage-based green card interview, in front of her U.S.-citizen husband Terrance Bradshaw and their toddler. ICE says she overstayed a 2013 tourist visa and has a November 2025 removal order; her lawyers say she appeared voluntarily, has no criminal record, and was never out of compliance. Supporters rallied at Louisville Metro Hall on Aug. 28 as attorneys prepared for a Monday bond hearing in Indianapolis.
Disputed opinions
None yet.
Bond hearing set for Louisville mother detained by ICE, community rallies for release
Published 28 Aug 2026 accessed 29 Aug 2026
Facts
Bradshaw said only the lawyers can visit Bondonga in person.
Reynolds said Bondonga is sitting in a jail.
Arianit Osmani is Bondonga's attorney on her marriage-based proceedings.
Opinion
Reynolds said people should understand Bondonga is not identified only by a number.
Reynolds said Bondonga is somebody who fought for the community.
Davis said he has never seen someone so full of joy and so focused on serving others as Bondonga.
Supporters gather at Metro Hall to call for Armelle Bondonga's release
Published 28 Aug 2026 accessed 29 Aug 2026
Facts
Bondonga came to the United States with her family seeking asylum from the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2013.
Bradshaw said Bondonga is not dangerous.
Multiple members of Bondonga's legal team said the green card case rendered her asylum application moot.
Bondonga and Bradshaw got engaged in May 2025.
Reynolds said Bondonga's case was acted on because she had the green card meeting.
Reynolds said Bondonga's representatives will appear at a bond hearing in Indianapolis on Aug. 31.
Reynolds said Bondonga has gone to every meeting.
Kulkarni visited Bondonga in Jeffersonville, Indiana, where she is being detained.
Davis said Bondonga started a youth-organization conference and organized resources for women in abusive relationships.
Reynolds said Bondonga was not yet required to leave the country.
Opinion
Reynolds said if Bondonga had not had that meeting she would probably still be free.
Kulkarni said Bondonga is service, love, and a light.
Supporters rally at Louisville Metro Hall demanding release of mother detained by ICE
Published 28 Aug 2026 accessed 29 Aug 2026
Facts
DHS and Bondonga's legal team said she and her family came from the Democratic Republic of the Congo legally on a B-2 tourist visa when she was 8.
Bondonga's lawyer said she does not have a criminal record.
Bradshaw said their son Benir has been missing his mother's affection since she was detained Aug. 12.
WDRB reported Bondonga's son is 1 year old.
Immigration lawyers said the family sought asylum shortly after arriving legally, and that case is still pending.
Immigration lawyers said DHS cannot act on a removal order during an appeal.
Opinion
Bradshaw said it is the most emotional time of his life.
Kentucky Rep. Nima Kulkarni, a Louisville Democrat, said Bondonga is in prison because of a paperwork issue.
Bondonga's team said deportation to the Congo is not an option for the wife of an American citizen.
WDRB said Bondonga's marriage provides a direct path to citizenship.
Community rallies behind Louisville woman detained by ICE as attorneys prepare for bond hearing
Published 28 Aug 2026 accessed 29 Aug 2026
Facts
The couple's toddler was with them at the interview.
Bondonga's attorney filed a habeas petition arguing ICE broke the law by detaining her at the change-of-status interview and that her rights are being violated.
The appeal was dismissed over filing issues, and attorneys filed a May motion asking the Board of Immigration Appeals to reconsider.
Court records said the Aug. 12 detention was a targeted arrest by Louisville's Fugitive Operations Team.
The habeas petition said ICE entered the USCIS Louisville field office on South 4th Street without a warrant.
Reynolds said ICE agents then entered the office and told Bondonga she was under arrest, could not leave, and would be detained.
Records show Bondonga was served with a Warrant for Removal that officials say she signed.
Attorneys for the named officials said Bondonga is being lawfully detained, is not entitled to release, and that the court should dismiss her petition.
Reynolds said at the last interview Bondonga sat, answered questions, and the interviewer smiled and laughed.
The petition names ICE officials, Attorney General Todd Blanche, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mulligan, and Sheriff Scottie Maples as respondents.
The New York Times reported that a majority of people targeted in a summer surge of immigration arrests had no criminal records.
Sheriff Maples oversees the Clark County jail, which holds people for ICE.
Reynolds said Bondonga was so shocked she initially laughed.
Reynolds said Bondonga did not understand that the arrest was real.
The filing said the BIA reconsideration motion does not stay Bondonga's removal.
The filing said there are no impediments to Bondonga's expeditious removal.
The filing cited an appellate decision that USCIS appointments were a place people could be located and safely apprehended.
Attorneys said making bond will not necessarily stop Bondonga's removal, but she would be able to be at home while the process plays out.
As of Friday, the district court judge had not granted or denied the habeas petition or ordered a bond hearing.
Attorneys Arianit Osmani and Hishem Alsalman were at the press conference.
Supporters quickly raised community donations after Bondonga's arrest to help with legal expenses.
Opinion
Reynolds said Bondonga is sitting in a jail and her only hope is people raising their voices.
Bradshaw said his wife did nothing wrong and that he and the community support her.
Louisville woman in ICE custody after attending scheduled immigration interview
Published 18 Aug 2026 accessed 29 Aug 2026
Facts
Bradshaw said the interview was seemingly going smoothly before it became a living nightmare for their family.
Bradshaw said he felt completely powerless kissing his wife goodbye, not knowing when he would see her next.
Bondonga moved to Louisville in 2020.
Davis said he had spoken to Bondonga since she was detained.
Earlier in August, Louisville woman Sarafinah Bukirwa was released from ICE after being detained at the airport on her way to a sickle cell anemia conference.
Bukirwa's family and Rep. Morgan McGarvey said she was not receiving adequate medical care for sickle cell anemia.
Opinion
Davis said Bondonga is one of the most unbelievably strong people he has ever met.
ICE detains mom at green card interview as baby watches with US citizen dad
Published 18 Aug 2026 accessed 29 Aug 2026
Facts
Osmani said Bondonga has a U.S.-citizen husband, a very young U.S.-citizen child, and a pending marriage-based petition.
Newsweek reported Bondonga's child is 18 months old.
Osmani said Bradshaw is now carrying responsibilities they previously shared as a family.
Kulkarni said Bondonga spent her first night in detention sleeping on a cold concrete floor surrounded by strangers.
Kulkarni said she met Bondonga in detention.
ICE encouraged people to take control of their departure with the CBP Home App.
Kulkarni said Bondonga's conditions have improved.
Bondonga previously said she fled the Democratic Republic of the Congo because of its violent history, poverty, and lack of free speech.
Before Kentucky, Bondonga and her family lived in California, New York, and Maine.
Bondonga attended Waggener High School in Louisville.
Bondonga earned a degree in business management from Jefferson Community and Technical College.
Booker condemned Bondonga's detention in a statement to Newsweek.
Charles Booker is a Democrat running to replace outgoing Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell.
Opinion
Kulkarni accused ICE of treating Bondonga inhumanely and using her as a political pawn.
Osmani said the situation has placed a significant emotional and practical burden on the entire family.
Osmani said he does not want to speculate about ICE's motives or the government's intentions.
Kulkarni said administration policies lure people attending routine green card interviews only to arrest and jail them.
Kulkarni said Trump administration policies are designed to apprehend and detain as many immigrants and refugees as possible and to separate families without due process.
Kulkarni said Bondonga is the kind of immigrant U.S. officials should welcome with open arms.
Kulkarni said officials should fix a broken immigration system instead of vilifying people working to attain the American Dream.
Former teacher Ryan Davis said he was emotionally raw after Bondonga's detention.
Booker said when someone is following the rules, the government should not use that compliance to tear them from their family.
Bondonga said if she had not been born to her parents she could have been a child in the mines without an education.
Booker said Bondonga is a Louisville community leader with deep local ties who was attending a routine immigration appointment.