A Chinese player on the Mississippi Valley State men's basketball team, detained by ICE three weeks ago, was released on $12,000 bail Tuesday afternoon but still faces a hearing that could lead to his deportation.
Qingfang Pang, 21, who came to the United States from China three years ago, was arrested Sept. 29 as he tried to board a flight from Jackson, Mississippi, to New York, shortly after Mississippi Valley officials informed him his student visa had expired.
Speaking through a family adviser, Pang thanked his family, teammates, Coach Mike Davis and the school's assistant coaches who, he said, "believed in me and never stopped supporting me."
Pang's attorney, Marcus Session, told ESPN that the 6-foot-9 forward was the victim of a "procedural mistake" and was unaware he had not filed the proper paperwork to renew his visa. As of Tuesday afternoon, Pang was still awaiting his release from the Richmond (Louisiana) Correctional Center, Session said.
"He's a strong kid, but even a strong kid would have his emotions and faith tested," Session said.
Davis told ESPN that he's eager to get Pang back on campus, where he says the medical staff will make sure he's at full strength before letting him return to basketball.
"It's been hard. When one of your guys is going through something like this, the whole team feels it," Davis said. "For me personally, it reminded me that what we do is bigger than basketball."
Pang's arrest was the second such incident since September. Aminata Seck, a Kentucky State University women's basketball player from Senegal, was released on bail Oct. 7 after spending two months in ICE custody.
Session said that officials "coerced" Pang into signing a voluntary departure document when he was initially detained but that, with his limited English, Pang didn't understand what he was signing. Session said that document was rescinded and that Pang clearly wants to remain in Mississippi.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, said in a statement: "He legally entered the U.S. on November 17, 2023 on a temporary basis not to exceed September 5, 2024, but illegally overstayed. All of his claims will be heard by an immigration judge, and he will receive due process. This administration will not ignore the rule of law."
The DHS statement also noted that the department is offering $3,000 and a free flight to any "illegal alien" who chooses to self-deport. "We encourage every person here illegally to take advantage of this offer and reserve the chance to come back to the U.S. the right legal way to live the American dream. If not, you will be arrested and deported without a chance to return," the statement said.
Pang, who played high school basketball in New York City, attended Monroe University and transferred as a junior this season to Mississippi Valley, where the school discovered his F-1 student visa had expired. Session said that school officials told Pang he had to leave campus and that he was headed to his guardian's home in New York when he was detained.
An immigration judge in Jena, Louisiana, approved the request for bail Monday. Pang is expected to appear at a hearing Oct. 27, hoping a judge allows him to stay in the United States.
Nichole Francis Reynolds, a Washington-area attorney and Davis' cousin who has advised Pang and his family, said he is aware of the stakes at next week's hearing. While he was detained, she and other representatives helped file the paperwork he would need to stay, and she said the family hopes that paperwork and the support he's had from Mississippi's two senators, Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith, will be enough to convince a judge he should remain in the United States.
"We are hopeful, and we respectfully ask for privacy for him and his family as the process continues," Reynolds said.