As details of 21 Savage’s ICE arrest continue to unfold, the Atlanta-based rapper’s lawyer is speaking out. According to the BBC, attorney Charles Kuck is adamant his client never hid his immigration status.
In a statement, Kuck claims the platinum-selling artist’s arrest was “based upon incorrect information about prior criminal charges.” In 2014, 21 Savage — real name Sha Yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph — was convicted of drug-related charges, although that conviction was reportedly expunged.
Kuck says his client was in the process of obtaining a U visa so he could legally stay in the United States. In 2013, 21 Savage was shot six times on his 21st birthday by a rival gang member in an attempted robbery. The ambush took the life of his little brother, Johnny “Tay-Man” Abraham-Joseph.
U visas are granted to non-citizen victims of crime who intend to cooperate with U.S. authorities.
ICE has yet to charge 21 Savage with a crime. Kuck believes he’s simply a victim of his parents’ decision to overstay their work visas.
“ICE has not charged Mr. Abraham-Joseph with any crime,” the statement reads. “As a minor, his 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 purposes other than to unnecessarily punish him and try to intimidate him into giving up his fight to fight to remain in the United States.”
Kuck says 21 Savage and his legal team are committed to securing his release so he can move on with his life. He also cites 21’s philanthropic work in the Atlanta community, which includes the 21 Savage Bank Account Campaign. He started the campaign in an effort to improve financial literacy among lower-income neighborhoods.
“He rose above the difficult circumstances of his youth to achieve success and make contributions to our society that rival any of those by a natural born citizen,” Kuck adds. “Mr. Abraham-Joseph has US citizen children that he supports and is eligible for relief from deportation. 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.”
To show their support, many of 21’s peers have rallied around him, including Killer Mike, Nicki Minaj, Meek Mill, Cardi B and Offset. Additionally, a #Free21Savage petition has been started in an effort to help him stay in the United States. As of press time, the petition has over 9,500 signatures.
Check it out here.
Send this fake ass ATLien back to his motherland. Wanksta ass thinking he ATL hood and shit.
Deport this Savage
Why would you want to stay in the US?
His music career in the UK is definitely blowing up. You know, all those British rappers making more than 21 slaveage in the US… none.
He never hid it. He just pretending he’s an American lol.
They still ain’t let shyne back in. Peace 21, all these people that’s supporting him will forget about him in 6 months, they should also put a ban on his music so we don’t have to hear that shit, karma a MF.
He does have a real case with that U Visa. anyone who is a victim of violence can get those, but they take a long ass time to get processed. If this is the case, this was a waste of taxpayer money like always. Hell, he could even stay under that DACA shit for that matter.
There isn’t anything you can do to speed up the process. One of my good friends is an immigration lawyer, and those U visas take sometimes 5 to 7 years to process. He should have covered himself in the meantime though with DACA.
Wankstaband Wakanda are close on a map, right? Drake using US slang, and people letting that slide, is what led us to this cosplay bullshit. Hahahaha. Toma
‘’U visas are granted to non-citizen victims of crime who intend to cooperate with U.S. authorities’’ so this week we discovered 2 snitches! 6snitch and 21snitch…
He doesn’t have a visa though…
He’s applying for it as per his lawyer
Don’t worry his laywer has j-wish sounding last name, they will never let any non-white be deported. If he was white they would do anything to make sure he is deported.
Dude. You’re an idiot. Hebrews are white, moron. Stop with your ridiculous tin foil hat cousin-fucking posts already. How dumb are you? Madonna converted idiot, is she an Arab now? GTFoH with that BS
Yes, Goy we are white! Now you can blame all the shit we do on whitey! Oy vey!
Cool, he was in the process for getting his Visa… for how long though? He’s known about his illegal status for a long time and if he didn’t, he should have. You can say he was only a teenager when his parents’ Visa expired, but then you have to acknowledge that at some point as an adult he should have taken care of this. It’s been over 10 years, no excuses. He was an adult before he was a victim of a crime (the basis for the U visa). Everyone makes excuses for the people they like, then they are quick to “cancel” others for saying the “wrong thing”. Society is fucked.