From NFL history to exile: The fall and deportation of Daniel Adongo

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In December 2013, Daniel Adongo accomplished what no Kenyan had ever done before. Standing at 6-foot-5 and weighing over 250 pounds, the former professional rugby star strode onto an American football field wearing the navy and white of the Indianapolis Colts. He was a symbol of raw athletic talent and international potential. He was seen as a trailblazer who jumped straight from southern-hemisphere rugby into the high-stakes world of the National Football League without ever having played a single down of American football.

13 years later, that triumph ended in disaster. On June 20, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents removed 37-year-old Adongo from the United States, placing him on a flight back to Nairobi following a decade-long downward spiral marked by mental illness, legal troubles, and homelessness.