The detention of Senegalese college basketball player Aminata Seck by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has exposed the fragile bargain facing international college athletes: universities eagerly recruit them, but institutional support can disappear when their immigration status becomes precarious.
Seck, a senior at Division II Kentucky State University, was detained at Louisville’s Muhammad Ali International Airport on 7 August while traveling to attend the HBCU All-Star game in New York. Last season, she started 20 of 26 games, earning third-team all-conference honors and an SIAC Elite 16 award for academic achievement.
Detention and Medical Concerns
According to Sadiqa Reynolds, a lawyer involved in her case, Seck has been moved through four ICE facilities—Clay County, Chicago, Clark County, and Grayson County—since her initial apprehension. Reynolds said the reason for Seck’s imprisonment was a missed student visa deadline, which she characterized as “a paperwork situation” due to back surgery. Reynolds also reported that Seck has been suffering from an ACL injury while detained and received only ibuprofen without proper medical care.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told USA Today on 23 September that Seck “chose to overstay her welcome in violation of our nation’s laws,” adding, “To be clear: a pending application or work authorization does not confer legal status in the United States.” DHS also claimed that an immigration judge issued a final removal order for Seck on 8 September 2025, after she purportedly “failed to show up for her immigration hearing.” They emphasized that “she will remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.”
Margaret Fleming of Front Office Sports reported that a DHS spokesperson said, “Upon entrance examination, medical personnel noted Seck was wearing a leg brace to support a knee injury that occurred prior to detention. On 21 September, she was referred to the local hospital, where she is receiving treatment for knee pain.” Yet the same statement noted it is “longstanding practice to provide comprehensive medical care from the moment an alien enters ICE custody,” suggesting Seck was denied appropriate care for about one and a half months until the case became public.
Legal and Institutional Responses
Hishem Alsalman, Seck’s lawyer in her federal habeas corpus petition, told Fleming that Seck “never received notice of the hearing that resulted” in her removal order and that, “far from knowingly ignoring her immigration obligations, she was actively taking steps to ensure that her student status remained intact while continuing her education at Kentucky State University.” Alsalman also shared that Seck has experienced seizures during detention and was in hospital as of 23 September.
Reynolds reported that Kentucky State coach Amani Williams has provided considerable support, saying “she has treated her like a mother would treat their child.” However, the safety of an international athlete cannot depend on the extraordinary efforts of an individual coach. Institutions that recruit international athletes must build systems to support them when their immigration status places them at risk.
Broader Context and Financial Exploitation
This case arises amid a political climate where the White House has more than doubled the ICE complement, claims to have deported some 605,000 people, and aims to deport one million people per year. Just before the Seck case entered the news cycle, the official US Department of Education X account posted a photo of white fans at a University of Texas game under the banner “Make College Football Great Again,” referencing viral images of South Asian fans. Ohio Senator Jon Husted also introduced legislation on 14 September calling for a cap on international college athletes (ICAs) at no more than 20% per team, citing “foreign interference.”
ICAs are a “cash cow” for universities through tuition, fees, and housing revenue, though this is less true for profit-generating sports. At Division II, scholarship limitations mean a school can award only a maximum total of 10 women’s basketball scholarships. ICAs face restrictions on NIL opportunities, making them among the most exploited campus athletic workers, while also experiencing discrimination, language barriers, financial struggles, culture shock, homesickness, and heightened rates of depression and anxiety.
There are over 25,000 ICAs across the NCAA, making up almost 13% of the college athlete population. In 2025, there were 713 international women’s basketball players across all divisions, with 144 in Division II. Those numbers have risen dramatically since 2012, when the number was 294 across divisions and 85 at Division II.
Predatory Recruitment and Institutional Responsibility
Sethi’s ongoing research on ICA recruitment indicates that international athletes are actively recruited not only to highly ranked Division I programs but also to lower divisions and Juco and NAIA institutions in areas where domestic recruitment is difficult. Many ICAs make college decisions based on athletic opportunity, scholarship availability, program ranking, and relationships with coaches, often with little knowledge of the communities and political environments they will live in. This can be characterized as predatory recruitment, leaving ICAs dependent on institutions that do not always fulfill promises of support.
Nandita Sharma, professor of sociology at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa, told us, “Both the NCAA and Kentucky State University have benefited from the excellence of Aminata Seck in both her studies and her athleticism. Yet, in her moment of need, they seem to have abandoned her. Instead of helping with the administrative work to renew her student visa, the NCAA and KSU put the onus entirely on her, even as the back surgery she needed from playing basketball kept her from doing so on time. Now, as Seck disappears into the ICE detention system, they remain silent.”
Seck’s case forces US college sport to confront a larger question: what does an institution owe an ICA after convincing them to cross a border, enroll, pay, compete, and represent its name? As Sharma put it: “The millions of dollars of resources that international students and athletes bring to the NCAA and to universities must be spent on ensuring the safety and status of student athletes.”
