Florida readers might be interested to learn that rapper 21 Savage was released on bond from a Georgia immigration detention center on Feb. 12. The 26-year-old U.K. national was detained by officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Feb. 3 while on his way to a performance in Atlanta.
Savage, who was born She’yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, came to the United States legally when he was 7 years old. He visited the United Kingdom for one month in 2005 and returned to the U.S. under an H-4 visa in July of that year. However, that visa expired in 2006. According to his legal team, he is an innocent victim of the situation, left with an unfixable immigration status due to the way he was brought into the country as a child. They further claim he has made “extraordinary contributions” to society during his 20 years living in America and was waiting to be approved for a U visa at the time of his detainment.
Despite Savage’s release from detention, he could still be deported and banned from re-entering the U.S. for a minimum of 10 years. According to ICE, the rapper was convicted of a felony drug charge in October 2014, making him eligible for immediate deportation. However, his legal team claims that the conviction, a first-time marijuana offense, was expunged from his record in 2018. Among Savage’s supporters is megastar rapper Jay-Z, who hired part of the legal team fighting to keep the Grammy-nominated performer in the country.
An immigrant facing removal proceedings could help their situation by contacting a deportation defense attorney as soon as possible. The lawyer could carefully review the case and work to obtain a visa on behalf of the client.
