Former Syracuse University basketball player John Bol Ajak has been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
“It was just overwhelmingly sad when I heard he got taken,” former Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim told Syracuse.com on Thursday, March 5. “They’re taking good people out of our country.”
Ajak, 26, 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.
The former collegiate athlete was arrested in Syracuse, New York, where he lives, and was taken to the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility, where he was transferred to ICE’s Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania, according to Syracuse.com.
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.
John Bol Ajak in 2021 Andy Lyons/Getty Images
Prior to his ICE detainment, Ajak was homeless and couch surfing while trying to get back into grad school after his student visa expired.
He completed his undergraduate degree in 2023 but did not finish his graduate courses.
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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.”
Also on his LinkedIn page, he revealed a desire to work with the United Nations “to help create opportunities for the next generation of kids in Africa.”
“I’m so grateful for the opportunity I got to come to the United States to chase my dreams at a young age,” he wrote. “The best way to show my appreciation for my opportunity is to create more opportunities for others, especially in my neighborhood in Africa. My passion is to give back to the less fortunate and that’s why I started TheHumBolFund.”
