A judge has reopened the immigration case of a Kentucky State University women's basketball player and rescinded her deportation order, according to her legal team.
Immigration court judge Kelly Lake on Wednesday sided with the lawyers of Aminata Seck, a 26-year-old from Senegal, who was arrested on Aug. 7 at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport. Seck's lawyers have argued that their client did not receive notice of her immigration court hearing last September.
Seck is scheduled to appear in court for a new hearing on Nov. 20, according to her attorney, Hishem Alsalman. He is hopeful a federal judge will rule in Seck's favor in a separate habeas petition to free her from a detention center in Leitchfield, Kentucky.
In a statement last week, the Department of Homeland Security said Seck would "remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings."
Seck, through her lawyers, says she was scheduled for surgery to repair a torn ACL and meniscus in her left knee on Sept. 8. She has since missed that procedure while in detention. Seck's lawyers say she has been moved to four facilities across three states in Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky since the arrest. "Watching her walk is torture," said attorney Sadiqa Reynolds.
"I never imagined in my life that I would be in jail," Seck said in a statement through Reynolds. "I was just trying to get my education."
Seck entered the U.S. legally in 2019. Kentucky State University has declined to comment on Seck's immigration case, citing privacy concerns.