Daniel Ogama Adongo, a 37-year-old Kenyan national and former Indianapolis Colts linebacker, was deported by ICE agents in Chicago on June 20, Fox News reported. It came after a Department of Justice immigration judge issued a removal order on March 23, following years of unresolved criminal charges and a visa overstay that dated back to 2016.

In a statement, ICE Chicago Assistant Field Office Director Douglas Thompson claimed that Adongo was 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 grew up in Nairobi, Kenya, and attended Strathmore School, where he first showed athletic promise as a teenager.

From Kenya, Adongo’s rugby journey took him to South Africa, where he joined the Natal Sharks academy in 2007 as a teenager. He worked his way through Under-19 and Under-21 levels before getting his Vodacom Cup debut in 2011 with the Sharks, where he helped the team register a 30-19 win.

Despite scoring a hat-trick in his first game there, Adongo did not get the game time he felt he deserved and left for New Zealand in 2012 to join former All Black Tana Umaga’s Counties Manukau. Adongo then moved to the Southern Kings for the 2013 Super Rugby season, becoming the first Kenyan to play in Super Rugby.

That is when the Indianapolis Colts came calling. Colts general manager Ryan Grigson sent an email. Within weeks, Adongo had signed a two-year deal worth $405,000 in the first year and relocated to the United States.

“When everything transpired, everything happened so quickly, I took everything in and signed on the dotted line. Being the person that I am, I went with my gut feeling,” Adongo said at the time. “If something feels right, I’m not going to doubt myself. I’m going to go for it immediately.”

He made history as the first Kenyan to play in the NFL.

Unfortunately, Adongo did not get to play much. He was mostly used on special teams, where he recorded a total of 100 snaps. He spent only three years with the Colts, who released him in 2015.

Daniel Adongo’s rough journey after NFL career

Adongo overstayed his visa in 2016 and was arrested multiple times in Indiana over the years that followed. Charges included felony intimidation, battery and disorderly conduct. In 2020, he was convicted of criminal mischief with damage and sentenced to 364 days in jail.

His release from the Colts was followed by an incident involving the police, who were called to a home he shared with a woman.

In June 2026 alone, ICE made more than 43,000 arrests, according to the agents’ own data. Over 65,000 people were in custody at that point. The agency says roughly seven in ten of those arrested had criminal records on top of their immigration violations.

The Laken Riley Act came into effect in deporting Adongo. Under that law, undocumented immigrants convicted of specific crimes- theft, violent offences, crimes that put law enforcement at risk- cannot be released on bond while their removal case moves through the system.