Kenyan ex-NFL star Daniel Adongo deported by ICE over visa, criminal Record

Adongo, a 37-year-old Kenyan national and former Indianapolis Colts linebacker, was deported on June 20, according to an announcement made by ICE via the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

A Department of Justice immigration judge had ordered his removal on March 23.

According to ICE, Adongo overstayed his visa in 2016, a year after his NFL career ended, and remained in the country for nearly a decade before his arrest.

The agency said he was detained under the Laken Riley Act, signed into law by President Donald Trump last year, which requires the detention without bond of undocumented individuals convicted of certain crimes.

Court records cited by federal officials show Adongo was convicted of criminal mischief with damage in 2020 and sentenced to 364 days in jail.

Officials said he had also been arrested several times in Indiana over the previous decade on allegations that included felony intimidation, battery and disorderly conduct. Some reports indicate a number of those charges were later dismissed in court.

"This dangerous individual was clearly a threat to the community, which is now safer since he's been removed," ICE Chicago Assistant Field Office Director Douglas Thompson said in a statement, adding that those who violate immigration law are held equally accountable, "including former professional athletes."

Adongo was recruited from professional rugby and signed by the Colts in 2013,  making history as the first Kenyan to feature in American football's top league despite having no prior experience in the sport.

He spent two seasons with the franchise before his release in 2015, appearing in a handful of games, mostly on special teams.

DHS framed the removal as part of a wider enforcement drive.

It said its officers had been "delivering on President Trump's promise" to arrest and deport individuals it described as criminal illegal aliens, and claimed nearly 70 percent of ICE arrests involve people charged or convicted of a crime in the U.S.