The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported former NFL linebacker Daniel Ogama Adongo, a 37-year-old Kenyan citizen, on Saturday after he spent nearly a decade in the United States with an expired visa and accumulated a criminal record that included a felony conviction.
According to an exclusive report from Fox News Digital, the removal order was issued by an immigration judge from the Department of Justice in March of this year and was executed on June 20 from Chicago, the city where Adongo resided.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the deportation this Saturday via its social media.
Adongo played as a linebacker for the Indianapolis Colts from 2013 to 2015, becoming the first Kenyan to participate in the NFL after being recruited from professional rugby in South Africa.
He played five games over three seasons before his American football career came to an end.
A year after retiring, in 2016, he overstayed his visa and remained in the country illegally for about a decade.
His criminal record in the United States includes a conviction for property damage in 2020, for which he was sentenced to one year in jail, along with arrests for intimidation with felony charges, assault, and disorderly conduct.
The assistant director of the ICE Field Office in Chicago, Douglas Thompson, was emphatic when assessing the deportation: "This dangerous individual was clearly a threat to the community, which is now safer since he was removed. Those who violate immigration laws are equally held accountable, including former professional athletes."
The case of Adongo falls within the immigration policy of the second Trump administration, which since January 2025 has broken deportation records and has prioritized the expulsion of individuals with criminal records, regardless of their public profile or professional background.
Under the Laken Riley Act, signed by President Donald Trump in January 2025, immigrants in irregular status with convictions for certain crimes must be detained without the possibility of bail, which expedited the removal process in this case.
The DHS also issued a statement emphasizing that almost 70% of ICE arrests involve immigrants with criminal charges or convictions in the country.
The DHS specified that more than 3 million irregular immigrants have been expelled from the country since the beginning of the administration, and warned: "If you come to our country illegally, we will find you, arrest you, and deport you."
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