Jonathan Nicola to remain in custody, review board determines

Jonathan Nicola will remain in custody as he's considered a flight risk, an Immigration Refugee Board determined Tuesday.

His next detentionhearing is scheduled for May 24, but he could have an admissibility hearing as early as this week to determine whether he will be allowed to stay in Canada or be sent home to South Sudan.

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• Basketball player Jonathan Nicola 17, not 29, recruiter asserts

Nicola is accused of entering the country using false information on hispassport from South Sudan.

CanadaBorder Services Agency officials allege hecame to Canada in November 2015 on a student visa to study in Windsor until January 2017.

When he entered the country his passport and visa application listed his birth date as November 1998. But when he applied for a U.S visitor visa in April, his fingerprints matched an individual who'd already applied for a visa with a birth date in November 1986, the CBSA alleges.

If the allegations are proved, thatwould make him 29, not 17, as his documentation suggests.

At the hearing, Nicola appeared in an orange jump suit and did not make a statement.

While in Canada, he'd played basketball at Catholic Central high school. His coach, Peter Cusumano was present at Tuesday's detention hearing.

Nicola made little eye contact with Cusumano and his wife, who'd appeared alongside a priest from St. AlphonsusCatholic church.