Former Syracuse University basketball player John Bol Ajak is being deported after spending multiple weeks in ICE custody, according to Syracuse.com.
Ajak admitted to staying in the United States long after the expiration of his F-1 student visa following his graduation from Syracuse’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.
He was arrested multiple times as he attempted to flee deportation officers’ custody and was charged with trespassing, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.
When given the option of voluntary departure or a deportation order, Ajak chose the latter.
The US government pays for the deportation order, but voluntary departure allows eligibility for future entry.
‘If this is how I’m leaving, I never want to step foot in this country again,’ Ajak said.
Former Syracuse basketball player John Bol Ajak is being deported by ICE after overstaying his student visa. He had been held at a detention center in central Pennsylvania for weeks.
![Ajak agreed to deportation, saying he 'never want[s] to step foot in this country again'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2026/04/04/16/107656547-15706311-image-a-2_1775317646666.jpg)
Ajak agreed to deportation, saying he ‘never want[s] to step foot in this country again’
He had been held at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center – an ICE detention center located in central Pennsylvania over 250 miles southwest of Syracuse.
Ajak entered the United States from Kenya in 2014 for educational and basketball pursuits.
He enrolled at Syracuse University in 2019 and redshirted his first year. Ajak then played for the Orange under former coach Jim Boeheim from 2020 to 2023.
The 6-foot-10, 215 pound center played in 35 career games – logging 21 points, 43 rebounds, 26 assists and 27 personal fouls.
Ajak was born in South Sudan, but his family fled to Kenya in the midst of the country’s civil war while he was an infant.
