US deports Kenyan former NFL player Daniel Adongo

What the report says

BBC Africa reports that former Indianapolis Colts player Daniel Adongo, a Kenyan national, was deported from the United States last month by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE said Adongo, 37, had remained in the country after his visa expired in 2016, the year after his NFL career ended. The agency said he was ordered removed on 23 March and deported on 20 June; the BBC said it was not clear where he was sent.

Adongo played linebacker for the Colts from 2013 to 2015 after attracting attention for moving from rugby to American football despite having no prior experience in the sport. In its statement, ICE described him as a dangerous individual and said people who breach immigration rules are subject to enforcement regardless of their former professional status. Adongo has not publicly responded to the allegations, according to the BBC.

The agency said Adongo had been arrested several times over the past decade on allegations including felony intimidation, battery and disorderly conduct. ICE also cited a 2020 conviction for criminal mischief with damage, for which it said he received a 364-day prison sentence. The BBC, citing the Indianapolis Star, noted that after charges in 2017 a judge ordered a psychiatric assessment, that Adongo was found incompetent to stand trial, and that his mother and lawyers have previously linked his difficulties to mental illness and possible sports-related injury.

BBC Africa also reported that ICE connected his most recent charges to the Laken Riley Act, a US law signed by President Donald Trump in January 2025 requiring detention of undocumented immigrants arrested for theft or violent crimes while awaiting trial. The case comes amid wider US immigration enforcement; the Department of Homeland Security lists more than 40 Kenyans arrested by ICE.