Things got crazy last week when it was revealed that Jonathan Nicola, a Canadian high school basketball player, was suspected to be 30 years old. The South Sudanese immigrant was a star player for Catholic Central, staying in the country on a student visa through a program called Homestay, but last week he was detained by The Canadian Services Agency for “contravening the Immigration Refugee Protection Act.”
On Tuesday, he appeared in front of the Canadian Border Service Agency officials and was held in detention as he was considered a flight risk. Nicola claimed to be an 11th grade student, but testified in a hearing last week that he did not know his true age. He would ask his mother when he was born and she would always tell him that she could not remember. Some may argue that the school system should have helped him keep track of his age, but according to Nicola, this was not the case in South Sudan. He stated that kids don’t study every year like we do here in the US; you’re constantly moving to different schools and no one asks your age over there.
Later in his testimony, Nicola played to everyone’s soft side as he told the story of his sick mother and his religious background. He only wants his education—sounds sincere. He continued on, saying that a mysterious Coach Steyn helped him get the visa to play in Canada and that he is the one who produced his falsified paperwork. Apparently, Nicola spoke out against the coach, telling him that he was not born in 1998, but the Coach finished all of his papers using that birth year without Nicola knowing.
Nicola was doing well as a high school basketball player and even had potential to join the NBA, but once he applied for a travel visa for the United States, his streak of luck came to a screeching halt. Turns out that in April 2015, Nicola applied for a visa to the US in Nairobi; he was applying to enter the US on a full scholarship. Seems sort of suspicious that just six months later, he headed to Canada on a student visa to attend school on a full scholarship. The fingerprints he gave in his latest application matched the fingerprints on the older application that was denied. That older application listed his birth year as 1986. His Canadian visa application listed his birth year as 1998. The whole ordeal is extremely complex.
Nicola hopes that nothing happens to him, and would much rather be sent home as a punishment because he believes that would be better for his family. Canadian border officials are refusing to release Nicola, and continue to refuse him the option of returning to South Sudan.
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Jonathon Nicola
Central Catholic
Update on “High School” Student Jonathan Nicola By Njeri Mathis
Photo Courtesy of northpolehoops.com.
