21 Savage at the CFDA / Vogue Fashion Fund 15th Anniversary Event. November 5, 2018.
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21 Savage's attorney Charles H. Kuck has issued a statement on the rapper's recent arrest and detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.), as The Blast and TMZ report.
Savage (real name She’yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph) was arrested by I.C.E. on Sunday. The agency claimed that the rapper is originally from the United Kingdom and is not authorized to be in the United States. In his statement, Kuck said the rapper's immigration status was known to the government, and that in 2017, he applied for a U-Visa – available to those who are the victim of a crime.
Kuck said: "The Department of Homeland Security has known his address and his history since his filing for the U Visa in 2017, yet they took no action against him until this past weekend.”
“As a minor," Kuck says, "[Savage]'s family overstayed their work visas, and he, like almost two million other children, was left without legal status through no fault of his own. This is a civil law violation, and the continued detention of Mr. Abraham-Joseph serves no other purpose than to unnecessarily punish him and try to intimidate him into giving up his right to fight to remain in the United States.”
TMZ reports that 21 Savage's only conviction, a 2014 federal drug charge, was expunged from his record in September 2018. Kuck hinted this old charge may have played a factor in the Sunday arrest. “[I.C.E.'s arrest of Savage is] based upon incorrect information about prior criminal charges," Kuck said, adding that I.C.E "is refusing to release him on bond of any amount." Kuck argues that Savage should not be held as he is neither a flight risk thanks to his celebrity, nor a danger to his community, citing Savage's ongoing philanthropic and charitable works.
Concluding that Savage "is eligible for relief from deportation," Kuck says "We and he will fight for his release, for his family, and his right to remain in our country. No one would expect less from him.”
The FADER has reached out for more information. Read the statement in full below via Buzzfeed.
