Former MU basketball prospect detained by ICE after rape, sodomy charges dropped
Editor's note: A sentence has been clarified.
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
A former basketball prospect for the University of Missouri who was accused of raping a woman during a September 2024 campus visit is now being held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Kansas City.
Keiner Asprilla was charged in Boone County last year as an adult with first-degree rape, first-degree sodomy and second-degree kidnapping. Charges were dropped on Wednesday, Jan. 21.
Asprilla’s attorney Adam Dowling claims there were inconsistencies from the alleged victim's statements. Asprilla is from Colombia and was attending St. Peter's Prep in New Jersey with a student visa, according to Dowling.
When Asprilla was brought to the Boone County Jail, ICE placed an immigration hold on him, according to court documents. The hold was one reason he was denied bond in April 2025.
According to the ICE website, detainers are issued for immigrants that ICE agents believe can be removed from the country, usually because of criminal convictions or because the person is believed to be a threat to public safety or national security.
However, Asprilla's charges have been dropped, and the case has been dismissed.
Immigration attorney in St. Louis David Cox said ICE agents might have still been able to detain Asprilla based on his student visa.
There are three types of student visas, and they all require a full course load during the school year.
"If this person were here on a student visa, they would have to maintain their studies. And if he were in jail for a year, he wouldn't have been able to maintain his studies, and so he would have been out of status," Cox said. "He would no longer have been a student, and therefore his temporary legal status in the U.S. would have been taken away from him."
The Boone County Jail would have held Asprilla up to 48 hours while waiting on ICE agents to pick him up, according to ICE. Dowling told ABC 17 News that Asprilla is being held in Kansas City.
"I'm very hopeful for Keiner, with regard to the immigration case that is now ongoing in Kansas City. I'm hopeful that he will be exonerated there, be returned to his prior status with his visa," Dowling said. "I'm very hopeful that he will be allowed to stay here in the United States and continue his education and continue to play basketball."
