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Resident asks St. Charles County Council to press ICE for detained asylum seeker
Summary
David Veneciano asked council members to contact ICE on behalf of Armande Rayon Nengue, an asylum seeker he said was wrongfully detained on a shoplifting charge and has been held in a Texas holding cell for months; he asked the council to report progress in two weeks.
David Veneciano, who identified himself as a resident of District 7, appealed to the St. Charles County Council during the public-comment period to help a former county resident, Armande Rayon Nengue, who he said fled persecution in Cameroon and declared asylum on arrival in the United States.
Veneciano said Nengue was detained in January after a routine check-in on what he described as a falsely attributed shoplifting charge and that she has been held in a Texas holding cell without a bed "for months." He said she had been a model asylum seeker for seven years, attending required check-ins and participating in community and church life.
"We have two weeks to do it," Veneciano told the council, asking each member to use their contacts at ICE and call to ask that she be released and returned to the community. He provided printed materials to the council and requested members report back on progress at the council's next meeting.
The council did not record any formal action or direction on the record at the May 11 meeting; Veneciano's request was a public comment urging elected officials to intervene using existing connections. No county staff report or formal referral to staff appeared in the meeting minutes as read.
