Supporters rally around KSU student-athlete detained by ICE since August

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (LEX News) — Supporters of a Kentucky State University women's basketball player are rallying for her release after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained her at the Louisville airport in August.

ICE detained 26-year-old Aminata Seck, who is from Senegal and goes by Amina, on August 7 while she was traveling with her team.

Sadiqa Reynolds, an attorney helping with Seck's case, said the athlete is injured and has been transported between facilities multiple times.

"It's awful to have to dig and search and find somebody, and the fear of losing her in the system is tremendous," she said via Zoom.

As of Wednesday morning, the Grayson County Jail listed Seck as an inmate, but Reynolds said her client is now hospitalized. She said she saw Seck briefly at a hospital Wednesday afternoon, where she appeared sedated. Reynolds said she was quickly told she was not allowed to be there.

"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.

Reynolds also said she believes Seck missed a student visa paperwork deadline because of a back surgery.

"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," she told LEX News.

Reynolds is also working on the case of Armelle Bondonga, a Louisville woman who was also taken into ICE custody in August. The mother and wife from the Democratic Republic of Congo was arrested during a green card meeting, Reynolds said.

Kentucky State University responded to a request for comment about Amina's case with a statement from a spokesperson:

"Out of respect for the privacy of those involved, Kentucky State University does not have information to share."

Congressman Morgan McGarvey, a Democrat, is aware of the situation. In a statement, he said, "Aminata is a student-athlete who was arrested by ICE at the airport while traveling with her teammates. The Trump administration’s cruelty knows no bounds, but we will never let this become normal and we won’t stop fighting for her."

LEX News also emailed a spokesperson for Republican Congressman James Comer and the Department of Homeland Security, but we have not yet heard back.