Former Syracuse basketball player John Bol Ajak has been voluntarily deported to South Sudan after spending a month in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody.
According to Syracuse.com, Ajak, 26, agreed to be deported during a Thursday, April 2, virtual hearing with the Elizabeth Immigration Court in New Jersey.
“If this is how I’m leaving, I never want to step foot in this country again,” Ajak reportedly said during the proceeding.
Ajak reportedly had the so-called option of a voluntary departure or a deportation order, and chose to leave voluntarily. He added that he intended to leave the United States as quickly as possible.
He will be returning to Pawuoi Payam in Twic East County, South Sudan, where most of his family resides.
The former college athlete now has 60 days to leave the U.S. and return to Sudan, with the government set to make arrangements after he opted for a deportation order. The deportation order means that the U.S. government pays for his removal.
Ajak was originally detained in early March, after he was arrested in Syracuse, New York, where he lives. He was taken to the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility before he was eventually transferred to ICE’s Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania.
“It was just overwhelmingly sad when I heard he got taken,” former Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim told Syracuse.com at the time. “They’re taking good people out of our country.”
Ajak played for Syracuse from 2020 to 2023 — when Boeheim coached — and was with the team during its 2021 Sweet 16 run in the March Madness tournament, although he only played in one game.
His student visa expired after his graduation in 2023, and he admitted at Thursday’s hearing that he has been living illegally in the United States.
Prior to his ICE detainment, Ajak was homeless and couch surfing while trying to get back into grad school after his student visa expired.
Originally born in South Sudan, Ajak and his family fled their home country when he was a child and lived in a refugee camp in Kenya. At 14, he came to the United States on a basketball scholarship and eventually landed a spot on the roster at Syracuse.
After graduating and over the past few months, Ajak was arrested four times for alleged disorderly conduct and trespassing. He was released from jail after his most recent arrest — on 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 kids in need by providing them with various opportunities and education.
“There are a lot of kids on the streets not because they chose to but because they do not have the funds to attend school,” Ajak wrote on his LinkedIn. “I started this foundation to put a light on their situation and assist them with the funds to go to school.”
