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former syracuse university basketball player John Bol Ajac After a month in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention, he was voluntarily deported to South Sudan.
according to Syracuse websiteAjak, 26, agreed to be deported during a virtual hearing on Thursday, April 2, at the Immigration Court in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
“If I just left like this, I would never want to set foot in this country again,” Ajak reportedly said during the proceedings.
Ajak reportedly had the option of a so-called voluntary departure or a deportation order and chose to leave voluntarily. He added that he planned to leave the United States as soon as possible.
Former Syracuse University basketball player John Bol Ajak has been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. “I was very sad when I heard he was taken away,” former Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim told Syracuse.com on Thursday, March 5. “They are taking good people out of our country.” Ajak, 26, played for Syracuse (…)
He will return to Paoui Payam in Twek East County, South Sudan, where most of his family live.
The former college athlete now has 60 days to leave the United States and return to Sudan, where the government will make arrangements should he elect a deportation order. The deportation order means the U.S. government will pay for his deportation.
The invitation is Originally detained in early Marchafter being arrested in Syracuse, New York, where he lives. He was taken to the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility and eventually transferred to ICE’s Mosanon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania.
“I was very sad when I heard he was taken away,” former Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim Tell Syracuse website then. “They are taking good people out of our country.”
John Bol Ajac 2021
Andy Lyon/Getty ImagesAjak played for Syracuse from 2020 to 2023 (when Boeheim was coaching) and was with the team in the Sweet 16 of the 2021 March Madness tournament, although he only played in one game.
His student visa expires after graduation in 2023, and he admitted at Thursday’s hearing that he had been living in the United States illegally.
Ajak was homeless before being detained by ICE and couch surfed while trying to return to graduate school after his student visa expired.
Ajak was born in South Sudan. He fled his home country with his family as a child and lived in a refugee camp in Kenya. At 14, he came to the United States on a basketball scholarship and eventually earned a spot on Syracuse University’s roster.
After graduation and over the past few months, Ajak was arrested four times on suspicion of disorderly conduct and trespassing. He was released from jail after his most recent arrest (February 18) but missed a scheduled court appearance five days later.
According to Ajak’s LinkedIn account, he started a non-profit organization, The HumBolFund, to help children in need by providing them with various opportunities and education.
“There are many children living on the streets, not because they choose to do so, but because they don’t have money to go to school,” Ajak wrote on his LinkedIn. “I started this foundation to understand their situation and help provide them with the funds to go to school.”
