Kentucky State basketball player Aminata Seck cleared a major legal hurdle Tuesday when an immigration judge ruled she could be released on a $2,500 bond. Her attorney said Seck posted bond, but release was not yet certain in reports published Tuesday: the federal government had 24 hours to appeal, which would halt her release.
Seck, a 26-year-old center from Dakar, Senegal, has been in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody since Aug. 7, when she was detained at Louisville’s airport while traveling with her team. Her attorney told Front Office Sports that the bond ruling followed an immigration judge’s decision to reopen her case and rescind the existing deportation order.
The case had turned on whether Seck received notice of the immigration hearing she was said to have missed. The Department of Homeland Security has said she failed to appear and was ordered removed; Seck’s attorney has argued she did not receive notice. The judge’s decision to reopen the proceedings gives Seck another opportunity to present her case, but it is not a final ruling on her immigration status.
Her basketball season remains an open question. Seck is a Kentucky State player, but the available reports do not establish when—or whether—she can rejoin the team. A hearing that had been set for Nov. 26 was moved forward in part, with proceedings scheduled to continue Thursday, Oct. 8, according to her attorney’s account.
The bond decision changes the immediate stakes from whether Seck could remain detained to whether an appeal will block her release. It also leaves her longer-term immigration case unresolved. No government appeal outcome was confirmed in the Tuesday reports, so the bond ruling should not be treated as confirmation that Seck has left custody.