A Mississippi Valley State basketball player is now in federal immigration custody after being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Qingfang Pang, 6-foot-9 junior from China, was detained Sept. 29 after allegedly overstaying his visa. According to ICE’s online detainee information, Pang is being held in Louisiana.
WJTV 12 News first reported on Pang’s detention and his attorney’s efforts to have him released.
Pang’s attorney, Marcus Session, told the television station that his client was trying to return to New York to reunite with a family friend who had served as his original sponsor and helped guide him since he arrived in the United States.
“The story was that he didn’t know his visa was expired. He doesn’t know what to do,” Session told WJTV.
Session said Pang was facing uncertainty about his situation at MVSU, including where he would stay, and was attempting to make his way back to New York when he was detained by ICE.
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Pang was recruited by MVSU after playing junior college basketball at Monroe University in New York. According to a source close to the case, the situation is believed to involve a delayed paperwork issue with the university.
“He’s tired of being detained. He’s tired, you know, of feeling that he’s a criminal. And that’s what he expressed,” Session said.
Session has filed a request for an emergency bond hearing but said there has not yet been movement in the court system.
“We just want to make sure that he has an adequate opportunity, or we just want to make sure that he has an opportunity to plead their case in front of an immigration judge in a timely fashion,” Session said.
Pang is now in the process of trying to reinstate his student visa. His attorney said Pang wants to return to school and continue playing basketball.
“He wants to resume going to school. He wants to play college basketball. He wants to be a 21-year-old kid who’s just trying to make a life for himself,” Session said.
For now, Pang remains in ICE custody as his attorney seeks an emergency bond hearing and works to resolve his immigration status.
