Former Syracuse player reunited with family in South Sudan after deportation

John Bol Ajak, the former Syracuse University basketball player once listed at 6-foot-10, is back with his family in South Sudan after more than a month in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody. For many in Syracuse, his case has landed far beyond basketball, tying together a recognizable Orange name, homelessness, arrest records and the speed with which a public local life can unravel.

Ajak, 26, was ordered deported after a virtual hearing before Immigration Judge Adam G. Panopoulos in Elizabeth Immigration Court in New Jersey. He agreed to a voluntary deportation order and wanted to leave the United States as soon as possible, clearing the way for his removal after he had been held at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania.

His return closes a long and difficult arc that began far from Central New York. Ajak was born in South Sudan, and his family fled during the civil war when he was an infant. They spent years in a refugee camp in Kenya before eventually coming to the United States. He later played for Syracuse from 2020 to 2023, becoming a familiar name to Orange fans who followed a towering frontcourt player in the final years of his college career.

The attention around his detention has also exposed the instability that sat beneath the public image. Before he was taken into custody, Ajak had been couch surfing, and earlier reporting said he had been arrested multiple times on allegations including trespassing and disorderly conduct. That mix of homelessness, repeated police contact and immigration enforcement has made his case resonate in Syracuse and beyond, especially in a city that still recognizes him as a former player in a familiar orange uniform.

Now, after the removal that ended his time in the United States, Ajak says he is back with the people he had been separated from. “I’m really thrilled to be home,” he said. For a player once known mostly for his size and his time at Syracuse, the more lasting image may be this one: a former Orange athlete reunited with family thousands of miles away, after a case that showed how quickly a visible life in Central New York can be disrupted by the immigration system.