Aminata Seck, 26, a Kentucky State University graduate student, senior, and women's basketball player from Dakar, Senegal, was detained by federal officers at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport on Aug. 7, 2026, while preparing to travel with her team to a tournament in New York. Seck entered the U.S. on a student visa in 2019; her attorney, Sadiqa Reynolds, said she may have missed a visa deadline while recovering from back surgery and never received notice of a September 2025 hearing that led to an in absentia removal order issued Sept. 8, 2025. Reynolds said Seck has been moved among at least four detention facilities, has an ACL injury and torn Achilles requiring surgery, and received inconsistent medical care, including only ibuprofen at times, while DHS said she was referred to a hospital on Sept. 21 for knee pain. Attorney Hishem Alsalman said Seck has also experienced seizures. By Sept. 23, Seck was found hospitalized and appearing sedated, with hospital staff denying her attorneys phone or visitor access; her attorneys filed a motion to reopen her case in Memphis Immigration Court and a habeas corpus petition with an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order in federal court in Kentucky, prompting Chief U.S. District Judge David J. Hale to order the government to respond by Sept. 28. Kentucky State coach Amani Williams and Rep. Morgan McGarvey have both publicly supported Seck, with Reynolds saying the coach has treated her like a mother would her own child, and McGarvey stating, 'The Trump administration's cruelty knows no bounds but we will never let this become normal and we won't stop fighting for her.'