ATLANTA _ Attorneys for Atlanta rapper 21 Savage on Monday acknowledged he's an immigrant who overstayed a visa after his parents brought him to the U.S. as a child from the United Kingdom. The lawyers say he is being unnecessarily held by immigration authorities after a Sunday arrest even though he has a pending visa application.
"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," the lawyers said in a statement. "ICE can only continue to detain individuals who are a threat the community or a flight risk to not show up at their hearings."
They argue the rapper, whose given name is Shayaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, isn't a flight risk or a danger to the community.
A spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the rapper was detained during a "targeted operation" Sunday in DeKalb County. The agency had been working to apprehend him for "weeks or months" because he's been in "removal proceedings before the federal immigration courts, said the spokesman, Bryan D. Cox. Abraham-Joseph remained in immigration custody Monday; it's up to a federal judge to decide if he's eligible for bail.
His attorneys said he's been denied bond and he hasn't been charged with a crime.
"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," the lawyers, Charles Kuck and Holly Baird, said. "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."
His visa application is filed under code that allows crime victims to seek legal status. The lawyers didn't say what crime he was a victim of, but the rapper has long said he was shot six times in 2013.
