Welcome to Arrest Stories. A former Indianapolis Colts linebacker and the first Kenyan-born player in NFL history has been deported from the United States following years of legal trouble and an expired visa. Heres what may have happened.
Daniel Ogama Adongo, thirty seven years old and a native of Kenya, was removed from the United States on June twentieth by ICE officers in Chicago. The deportation followed a removal order issued on March twenty third by a Department of Justice immigration judge.
Adongo first came to the United States as a rugby player before making an unconventional transition to American football. The Indianapolis Colts signed him to their practice squad in the summer of two thousand thirteen, despite him having no prior experience playing the sport. He was added to the fifty three man roster late in the two thousand thirteen NFL season, making his debut on December eighth against the Cincinnati Bengals. Adongo played parts of two seasons with the Colts before the team waived him on December seventeenth, two thousand fifteen. His NFL career ended that same year.
In two thousand sixteen, approximately one year after his career concluded, Adongo overstayed his visa and remained in the United States. Over the following decade, Indiana law enforcement arrested him multiple times on allegations including felony intimidation, battery, and disorderly conduct. In two thousand twenty, he was convicted of criminal mischief with damage and sentenced to three hundred sixty four days in jail.
Prior to his deportation, Adongo was held at the Miami Correctional Facility in Indiana while in ICE custody. Federal authorities said his most recent charges fell under the Laken Riley Act, a federal law signed by President Trump on January twenty ninth, two thousand twenty five, which requires the detention without bond of certain non citizens accused or convicted of qualifying offenses.
ICE Chicago Assistant Field Office Director Douglas Thompson addressed the removal directly, stating, quote, this dangerous individual was clearly a threat to the community, which is now safer since he has been removed. Those who violate immigration law are held equally accountable, including former professional athletes, end quote.
Court records cited by the Indianapolis Star indicated that Adongo had at times been found incompetent to stand trial. A doctor at Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center described him in a two thousand twenty report as acutely psychotic with traumatic brain injury. His attorneys and family had raised concerns about his mental health and the possibility of a traumatic brain injury sustained during his football and rugby careers.
All suspects presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Do not take this report as factual, always verify facts. Thanks for watching Arrest Stories.