21 Savage – Lawyer Says He Applied For Visa In 2017, Believes ICE Intimidating Him To Leave Country

21 Savage

21 Savage – Lawyer Says He Applied For Visa In 2017, Believes ICE Intimidating Him To Leave Country

21 Savage‘s lawyer is speaking up for the 26-year-old rapper, who is in custody of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The organization claims the rapper was arrested for overstaying his visa and is a unlawfully present United Kingdom national. Savage’s attorney, Charles H. Kuck, has released a statement as he awaits his client’s deportation proceedings:

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. 

Kuck also believes ICE is attempting to intimidate 21 and

unnecessarily punish him. [The federal agency is trying] to intimidate him into giving up his right to fight to remain in the United States.

Kuck states Savage (real name Sha Yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph) applied for a United States non-immigrant visa (u-visa) in 2017 and the application is still pending. He says the agency knew about it, but proceeded with the arrest anyway.

Per ICE’s statement from the arrest,

In addition to being in violation of federal immigration law, Mr. Abraham-Joseph was convicted on felony drug charges in October 2014 in Fulton County, Georgia.

Although Savage plead guilty to drug possession, Kuck counters ICE’s statement with the fact Savage’s criminal record was expunged in September 2018, according to reports.

Patrisse Cullors, co-founder of Black Lives Matter, began a petition to halt Savage from being deported.