Removal proceedings

U.S. Border Patrol, working with local law enforcement in Arizona's Yuma Sector, arrested 143 people from 18 countries in a multi-agency operation conducted Aug. 10-14. Among them were 95 commercial truck drivers identified as illegal immigrants, 76 of whom held commercial driver's licenses issued by California and six by New York. The operation also disrupted two human-smuggling attempts, arresting four alleged smugglers and 17 smuggled individuals, and led to seizures of a firearm, 74 pounds of methamphetamine, and 169 pounds of marijuana. In a separate Aug. 7 incident, Yuma agents arrested a driver and four passengers found unlawfully present during a traffic stop on I-8, with the driver referred for prosecution on alien smuggling charges.

The arrests coincide with a report from the Federation for American Immigration Reform documenting that California issued more than 128,000 non-domiciled CDLs between January 2022 and September 2025, intensifying federal scrutiny of state licensing programs and sanctuary-state policies.

Armelle Bondonga, a Louisville resident who came to the U.S. as an asylum seeker from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was taken into ICE custody on Aug. 12 after appearing for a scheduled marriage-based immigration interview. Her attorney, Arianit Osmani, says she has no criminal history and voluntarily attended the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services interview with her husband, a U.S. citizen, rather than evading authorities. The couple has a U.S.-citizen child.

Her husband's Form I-130 petition remains pending, and her father's related asylum case is before the Board of Immigration Appeals. Osmani says Bondonga now has a potential path to permanent residency through marriage, but an existing removal order complicates that process. Bondonga previously attended Waggener High School and was active with Future Ancestors, a student group formed after Breonna Taylor's death. Students at Louisville's J. Graham Brown School staged a protest opposing ICE policies, and local officials, including Councilwoman Shameka Parrish-Wright, have voiced support. State Rep. Nima Kulkarni has connected Bondonga's family with additional legal counsel through her immigrant legal defense fund.