Atlanta, GA

21 Savage has a lot of explaining to do following his shocking arrest earlier this month by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, and the revelation that he’s an illegal U.K. transplant to Atlanta.

The I Am > I Was architect spoke in his first interview which aired Friday (February 15) on Good Morning America, two days after being released from detainment by ICE in Georgia’s Irwin County Detention Center.

“I don’t feel that the policy is broken, I feel that the way they enforce the policy is broken,” 21 Savage said about the U.S. immigration policy.

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“I’ve been here… 19 years. This is all I know. I don’t feel that you should be arrested and put in a place where a murderer would be, just for being in the country too long. ”

Within a week before his arrest, 21 appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon to perform his I Am > I Was collaborative lead single “A Lot” featuring J. Cole with new lyrics.

21 said in his live version, “Went through some things but I couldn’t imagine my kids stuck at the border.” It touches on Donald Trump’s strict immigration policy, which has separated and detained thousands of children away from their illegal immigrant families at the U.S. border.

Per his legal team’s released a statement, the father of three children stated in the GMA interview that his attorneys speculate that new lyric may have caused ICE to crack the whip on him just two days after the track’s visual was released on February 1.

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“My lawyers think that,” 21 said. “I don’t really know. I can’t really say. I would see why people would think that.”

The 26-year-old lyricist was reportedly held in a jail cell on a 23-hour lockdown. His lawyers stated that he was only allowed to make 10-minute phone calls to his legal team and family during his 10-day detainment.

He missed the Grammy Awards on Sunday (February 10), in which he was nominated for Record of the Year and Best Rap/Sung Performance categories with his collaborator Post Malone for their single “Rock Star.”

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He is still subject to possible deportation back to his native U.K. by the U.S. Immigration authorities.

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