Syracuse, N.Y. — A former Syracuse University basketball player who fled civil war in South Sudan has been arrested and detained by federal immigration agents.
John Bol Ajak, 26, who was still living in Syracuse, is being held at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Pennsylvania, according to ICE records.
It was the latest troubling event for the 6-foot-10 backup center whose inspiring story of escape from Africa had recently become distressing.
Ajak was arrested by police in Syracuse at least four times on campus on offenses such as trespassing and disorderly conduct. One arrest was near the JMA Dome.
He seemed to have no steady address.
It’s unclear how Ajak was grabbed by federal agents in the last two weeks and if his recent criminal trouble led to his detention. ICE officials did not reply to requests for information from syracuse.com | The Post-Standard.
His student visa had expired, two sources at the university confirmed. He was no longer a student there but was trying to get back into grad school courses, they said.
Ajak was first taken to the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility in Batavia, according to a college faculty member who spoke with him while he was in custody.
The faculty member said Ajak called him from the detention center and said he was in the general population and speaking with other detainees.
In January, Ajak was arrested twice for disorderly conduct and criminal trespass inside the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communication, where he previously studied, according to police records.
Recently, he had been homeless and couch surfing, a friend told Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard.
Ajak was born in Natinga, South Sudan, and his family fled the war-torn country when he was 19 months old.
He lived with his family in a refugee camp in Kenya, at times enduring abject poverty and hunger. He has previously recalled sitting under trees and writing in the sand during classes at the camp.
But when he was 13 years old, he went to a basketball camp. The camp led to an opportunity to come to the United States.
Ajak left Kenya at the age of 14 to come to the United States in 2014.
His early days in America were marked by homelessness and uncertainty as he adjusted to a new country. After a host family in Pennsylvania took him in, he began to build stability.
After playing basketball in Pennsylvania, Ajak committed to Syracuse and was a member of the men’s basketball team from 2020 to 2023.
“It was just overwhelming sad when I heard he got taken,” said his head coach, Jim Boeheim. “They’re taking good people out of our country.”
Ajak played sparingly over his three years with the Orange. He was a rangy athlete who was summoned into the game to provide a defensive presence in the back of Boeheim’s signature 2-3 zone.
Ajak’s most memorable performance came against rival Georgetown in 2022, when he finished with five points, five rebounds, two steals and two assists in 20 minutes. The dome crowd gave him a nice ovation when he left the game.
He earned his undergraduate degree in December 2023 from the Newhouse School. He later studied on campus for a graduate degree but did not finish. Boeheim said he always liked Ajak and wanted to help him get a degree.
Though he saw limited playing time, Ajak previously said he was grateful for the opportunity to earn an education and give back to the community.
According to police records, Ajak had been arrested several times since December:
Dec. 17: Arrested by police near the JMA Dome and charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.
Jan. 30: Arrested at the Newhouse school and charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.
Jan. 31: Arrested at the Newhouse school and charged with third-degree criminal trespass.
Feb. 18: Arrested at the Newhouse school and charged with two counts of third-degree criminal trespass.
After his last arrest, Ajak was released from jail on Feb. 18 on a pretrial release, said Thomas Newton, a spokesperson for the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office.
Newton said there was no communication between the sheriff’s office and ICE regarding Ajak.
Ajak missed a scheduled Feb. 23 court appearance in City Court, and a bench warrant was issued in connection with the trespass charge, according to his assigned counsel, Matthew Dotzler. Dotzler had no further information on him and had not yet met him, he said.
Staff writer Michelle Breidenbach contributed to this report.