US deports Kenyan former NFL player Daniel Adongo - BBC

What the report says

BBC News reported that Daniel Adongo, a 37-year-old former Indianapolis Colts linebacker from Kenya, was deported from the United States in June by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE said Adongo had remained in the country after his visa expired in 2016, the year after his NFL career ended. According to the agency, he was ordered removed on 23 March and deported on 20 June; the report said it was not clear where he was sent.

Adongo played for the Colts from 2013 to 2015 after attracting attention for moving from rugby into American football despite having no prior experience in the sport. ICE described him as a public-safety concern and said he had faced several arrests over the past decade, including cases involving felony intimidation, battery and disorderly conduct. The BBC said Adongo had not commented on the allegations.

The report also cited earlier coverage by the Indianapolis Star about Adongo’s mental health after his NFL career. His mother and lawyers have previously linked his difficulties to mental illness and injuries possibly connected to athletics. In a 2017 case involving intimidation and criminal mischief, a judge ordered a psychiatric assessment, and Adongo was later found incompetent to stand trial and sent to a psychiatric hospital, according to the BBC’s account of the newspaper’s reporting.

ICE said Adongo was convicted in 2020 of criminal mischief with damage and sentenced to 364 days in prison. The agency also linked his latest charges to the Laken Riley Act, a 2025 US law requiring detention of certain undocumented immigrants arrested for theft or violent crimes.