Ex-Colts Player Adongo Deported to Kenya Under Trump Crackdown
Former Indianapolis Colts linebacker Daniel Adongo has been deported to Kenya, becoming the first high-profile Kenyan known to have been removed from the United States as part of President Donald Trump’s intensified immigration enforcement campaign targeting non-citizens with criminal convictions, US immigration authorities said.
Adongo, 37, who switched from rugby to American football and played for the National Football League’s Indianapolis Colts between 2013 and 2015, was removed after a US immigration judge ordered his deportation in March following years of legal troubles and an overstay of his visa.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said Adongo remained in the United States after his visa expired in 2016 and was arrested several times over the following decade.
His criminal record included a 2020 conviction for criminal mischief involving property damage, for which he served a one-year jail sentence, according to ICE. Authorities also cited arrests for felony intimidation, battery and disorderly conduct.
ICE said Adongo was detained in June under the Laken Riley Act, legislation signed by Trump in January 2025 that requires mandatory detention of certain non-citizens accused or convicted of specified crimes while their immigration proceedings are pending.
“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,” ICE Chicago Assistant Field Office Director Douglas Thompson is quoted in a statement.
Adongo’s deportation comes as the Trump administration has accelerated removals of immigrants with criminal records as part of a broader pledge to carry out mass deportations.
Among the most closely watched deportation cases this year was that of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador before being returned to the United States to face criminal charges.
The administration has also expanded deportations to third countries, including transfers of convicted migrants to South Sudan and Eswatini when repatriation to their home countries proved difficult.
Trump has made immigration enforcement a central pillar of his second term, with the Laken Riley Act serving as the first law he signed after returning to office.
The legislation broadened federal authority to detain and deport certain undocumented immigrants accused or convicted of qualifying offenses.
gandae@businessdayafrica.org