Amina Seck is free. The Kentucky State University basketball player was released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody Wednesday evening after posting a $2,500 bond, ending a two-month detention that drew national attention to her case.
The Amina Seck released news came after a Memphis immigration judge granted a motion last week to reopen her deportation proceedings, finding that Seck had demonstrated she never received the notice of removal that the Department of Homeland Security said it served on September 8, 2025. That ruling made her eligible for a bond hearing, which was held Tuesday. She was released from the Grayson County Detention Center at 5:30 p.m. ET.
Seck, 26, was detained on August 7 at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport while traveling with her team to a tournament in New York. During her two months in custody, she was moved four times, spent time in isolation, and was hospitalized after experiencing seizures, according to her attorney Hishem Alsalman. She had a torn ACL and meniscus and missed a scheduled surgery while detained.
“This is an important victory for Aminata, her family, and everyone who has supported her throughout this difficult ordeal,” Alsalman said in a statement. “While her immigration proceedings remain ongoing, she will now have the opportunity to pursue her case outside of detention.” Seck appeared at a news conference hours after her release, saying through tears: “God is good all the time.” She said she spent about a week in isolation because she refused to remove her knee brace. “By myself in that room, with nobody, just me and myself, looking at the wall. No books or anything. That was the hardest thing for me.”
