First Kenyan to play in NFL deported under Trump immigration crackdown

Daniel Adongo, a former rugby star who became the first Kenyan to play in the National Football League (NFL), was deported from the United States in June for immigration violations, including a visa overstay and multiple arrests. The 37-year-old played two seasons as a linebacker for the Indianapolis Colts, appearing in two games, and was released in 2015 after facing domestic violence allegations. His visa expired in 2016, but he remained in the country, according to a press statement from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

ICE's statement quoted Douglas Thompson, assistant field office director for ICE Chicago, as saying: "This dangerous individual was clearly a threat to the community, which is now safer since he's been removed. Those who violate immigration law are held equally accountable, including former professional athletes." Adongo's deportation in June followed a removal order signed by a federal judge in March. This is one of the highest-profile cases in President Donald Trump's second-term campaign of mass expulsions of undocumented people.

According to ICE, Adongo was arrested multiple times in Indiana over the previous nine years for crimes including felony intimidation, battery, and disorderly conduct. In 2020, he was convicted of criminal mischief with damage, sentenced to a year in jail. A December 2015 report by the Indianapolis Star said police responded twice in three months to domestic violence calls at his home, which immediately preceded the Colts' decision to release him.

However, supporters of the player say his only conviction was a misdemeanor, and that charges leading to his most recent arrest were dismissed. They also maintain that Adongo spent months in harsh conditions in immigration detention, during which his serious mental illness worsened. A petition that sought to prevent his deportation stated: "Doctors and social workers who worked with him believe he may also be living with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE – an untreatable brain disease caused by repeated head impacts, common among athletes who played contact sports." ICE, it said, never confirmed whether Adongo received mental health treatment during his incarceration.

Born in Nairobi in 1989, Adongo played professional rugby union in South Africa before moving to the US in 2013, when he was signed by the Colts as an outside linebacker with no football experience. He played in two games before suffering a series of injury setbacks. The player's father, Joe Adongo, spoke in 2020 about his son's mental challenges after a video appeared on social media showing him looking disheveled and with multiple nasal piercings.