Kentucky college hoops star locked away and denied visitors after shocking airport ICE arrest
Por Paul Farrell — – World RSS Feed
Kentucky college hoops star locked away and denied visitors after shocking airport ICE arrest
A Kentucky State University women’s basketball player was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement when she arrived at the airport in Louisville to fly to New York for a tournament
Paul Farrell Thursday 24 September 2026 10:51 BST
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A Senegal-born Kentucky State University women’s basketball player was arrested by federal immigration officials in Louisville while attempting to fly to New York for a tournament.
Aminata Seck, 26, is a native of Dakar, Senegal, and holds a U.S. student visa, according to social media posts from her lawyer, Sadiqa Reynolds.
Reynolds stated that Seck was apprehended on Aug. 7 at Louisville’s Muhammad Ali International Airport while traveling with her team to an HBCU tournament.
open image in galleryThe Louisville Courier Journal, which first reported the arrest, quoted Reynolds as saying Seck may have missed a visa deadline following back surgery. The player is also dealing with an ACL injury.
Reynolds said she spoke to Seck last week and that the player was still in severe pain, having been moved across multiple detention facilities before being transferred to a hospital.
ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday regarding the reasons for her detention or the conditions of her confinement.
Seck appears on the online inmate roster for the Grayson County Detention Center in Kentucky, where her offense is listed as “US DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY / ICE.”
open image in galleryReynolds addressed the basketball star’s injuries in an interview with LEX18.
“It’s awful to have to dig and search and find somebody, and the fear of losing her in the system is tremendous. If she were in the jail right now, they would allow me to see her, but at the hospital, they said she cannot have phone calls, she cannot have visitors,” Reynolds said.
“This woman is not a criminal. She hasn’t done anything wrong. I understand that her student visa may in fact have been expired. I get that, but that doesn’t make her less human, and we want to make sure that she’s getting appropriate medical treatment,” the lawyer added.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Morgan McGarvey, representing the Louisville area, stated he is monitoring Seck’s detention alongside others in Kentucky.
“Aminata is a student-athlete who was arrested by ICE at the airport while traveling with her teammates,” he wrote in a statement. “The Trump administration’s cruelty knows no bounds, but we will never let this become normal and we won’t stop fighting for her.”
Seck, a 6-foot-4 center, made the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference All-Conference Third Team last season, averaging 11.7 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. She recorded five double-doubles, including a 30-point game against Lane College on Jan. 14.
She also received the SIAC Women’s Basketball Elite 16 award, the conference’s top academic accolade given for exemplary performance in both sports and academics.
The university declined to elaborate: “Out of respect for the privacy of those involved, Kentucky State University does not have information to share.”
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SenegalLouisvilleDakarNew YorkUnited StatesUS Department of Homeland SecurityDemocraticTrump
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