College Basketball Player in ICE Custody Allowed to Re-Open Case

The Senegalese women’s college basketball player fighting a deportation order scored a big win in court on Wednesday.

Kentucky State’s Aminata Seck, who has been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement since Aug. 7, filed a motion to reopen her case with immigration court. On Wednesday, that motion was granted by Memphis Immigration Court Judge Kelly Lake, her attorney Hishem Alsalman tells Front Office Sports.

While Seck remains in ICE detention, the decision opens the door for her to plead her case in front of a judge. It also strengthens her position in her separate federal habeas corpus petition, which challenges the lawfulness of her detainment.

Seck has argued that she never received notice of the immigration hearing, which the Department of Homeland Security says she skipped, nor the final removal order which came as a result of missing that court date.

“In granting the motion, the Immigration Judge found that Aminata ‘demonstrated that she did not receive notice’ of her prior immigration court hearing,” Alsalman said in a statement to FOS.

In addition to granting the motion to reopen the case, Lake also rescinded the removal order, Alsalman said.

Seck, a 26-year-old, 6-foot-4 center from Dakar, Senegal, was detained at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport while traveling with her team to a basketball tournament. She has been managing an ACL injury while in custody. Seck’s case was first reported by The Courier Journal in mid-September.

In a statement to FOS last week, a DHS spokesperson said Seck received a final order of removal on Sept. 8, 2025, “after she failed to show up for her immigration hearing.” The spokesperson said medical staff saw Seck wearing a leg brace at her entrance exam, but was taken to a hospital for knee pain on Sept. 21, 2026, weeks after her arrival in ICE custody. “Being in detention is a choice,” the spokesperson said.

Last week, Alsalman told FOS that Seck had been moved between four detention facilities while in ICE custody. In addition to her ACL issues, Seck had been experiencing seizures, Alsalman said. “These are not circumstances that Aminata chose for herself,” he said.

On Thursday, Alsalman told FOS that Seck’s appearance in immigration court is scheduled for Nov. 20. She is, however, now eligible to request a bond hearing that could allow her to leave ICE custody during those proceedings. A successful habeas corpus petition would also end her detention. That case is still ongoing in the Western District of Kentucky.

“We are grateful that Aminata will now have the opportunity to be heard and to have her case considered through the proper legal process,” Alsalman said.

A spokesperson for Kentucky State declined to comment. DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.