The “21 Savage is a British citizen and he’s being deported by ICE” story got hijacked by Demi Lovato on Sunday. Very few people even knew that 21 Savage wasn’t a born-and-bred Atlanta artist, and when Twitter found out that he was being deported, they had some jokes. When Demi laughed at those jokes, (Black) Twitter turned on her and bullied her into deleting her account. It was a scene. But let’s forget about Demi for a moment and just focus on the whole deportation issue. It looks like 21 Savage was brought to America as a minor, and his parents let his visa lapse, which makes him eligible for some kind of “Dreamer” status. Plus, he’s fathered American-citizen children. So, 21 Savage’s lawyer Charles H. Kuck has issued a statement about 21 Savage’s deportation:
ICE detained She’yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, the well-known Atlanta based recording artist and songwriter also known as ’21 Savage.’ Based upon incorrect information about prior criminal charges and now refusing to release him on bond of any amount, despite the fact that he has a pending U-Visa application (as the victim of crime) with USCIS, and that he has relief from removal available to him. Mr. Abraham-Joseph has never hid his immigration status from the US government. 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. ICE can only continue to detain individuals who are a threat the community or a flight risk to not show up at their hearings. Obviously, our client is not a flight risk, as he is widely recognizable, and a prominent member of the music industry. Likewise, Mr. Abraham-Joseph’s is clearly not a danger to the community, and in fact, his contributions to local communities and schools that he grew up in are examples of the type of immigrant we want in America.
ICE has not charged Mr. Abraham-Joseph with any 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. 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. 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. 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.
This whole thing is educational journey for me – I follow a lot of news stories about ICE, deportation, immigration, but I guess I didn’t realize how shady it was for ICE to arrest, detain and deport a guy who had actually filed all of the appropriate visa applications years ago, and someone who could make a good case for an “alien of extraordinary ability” visa (not to mention, he could be green-card eligible if he married an American citizen, like the mother of American children). I actually feel really sorry for 21 Savage. The only positive thing is that he’s really putting a face on ICE’s gestapo tactics under the Trump administration, and his case is educating the public.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
… “make contributions to our society that rival any of those by a natural born citizen.”
Err… that might be a wee bit too much, don’t you think? He’s not exactly working on cancer research, is he?
Well…of the two serious cancer researchers that I know, one is Kiwi (at MSK) and the other is Portuguese (at MD Anderson). Not to suggest that Americans don’t work on cancer research, but just want to be clear that its not ONLY Americans.
Also, contributions to society are both big and small – the idea that the lady making the bean casserole in your local soup kitchen isn’t making a valid contribution….is crazy
he has a charity to teach kids financial literacy and how to save and manage money. this is extremely valuable. with his help, if these children need that cancer research, they can afford the treatment.
Exactly. He actually does good things in Atlanta.
Except the drug part.
they usually give these exemptions to folks in the performing arts
How does he qualify for a “U” visa as a victim of a crime? What crime has been mentioned/committed against him except for whoever put that cross in the middle of his forehead?
@Tabitha based on your comments on this post and others may I ask you
1. What do you hate this guy so much?
2. Or is it just black men you hate?
I am a black female. It doesn’t matter that he is black what matters is that he is wrong.
I thought that ‘Dreamer’ status had very specific criteria, one of which being the condition that you don’t have any criminal record? So would he not qualify or have the rules been relaxed?
He might have been eligible for DACA before his drug conviction. A U visa is one of the very few categories that allow someone with no legal status in the U.S. to legalize. He will still need a separate waiver for his drug conviction, and that is neither easy to obtain nor guaranteed.
Trying to get legal immigration status in this country…is a purposely constructed…HELLSCAPE!!!
And yet many hardworking Black people do it every year with less money than 21 Savage.
@Ellie…. It takes OBSCENE amounts of money and heartache to go through the legal status process…and it takes YEARS…and the rules are ALWAYS changing…there are INDUSTRIES that are setup to gank folks out of their money… I’m not just saying this to pop off…I know WAY TOO MANY FOLKS…who have come here from other countries…been working for over 20 years…and have been trying to get their paperwork sorted out and get their status set since day one….and I don’t understand your “many hardworking Black people” slant you’re taking…seriously…I don’t….
You don’t think that black people immigrant to the United States?
Yea, that’s a purposefully constructed hellscape too.
You know what’s NOT adorable- condescending, rude comments. Go tell yourself you’re smarter or better in the mirror & leave the rest of society alone.
My knowledge of US immigration law is a bit sketchy but I think the fact that he has a felony drug conviction means he is ineligible for both Dreamer protection and/or the “extraordinary ability” visa. He’s had the conviction expunged, but that’s a state process, not federal.
In legal terms? He’s looking pretty screwed.
The best summary of the situation.
No matter what he’s in a bad position and will be deported.
Deported as a British citizen. Some would say going from the US to the UK is an upgrade.
With a calamitous Brexit imminent? Not necessarily.
21 has never moved like he wasn’t from GA so it’s extremely surprising he’s an immigrant. Most immigrants w/ questionable legal statuses don’t move like he moved. He might get some leeway bc of his celebrity but I doubt it. The US govt does not give af if you have kids or that you’ve given back to zone 6 when they’re ready to deport you.
@Ellie
Being deported to a country where you have minimal ties, leaving your family, including young children, and career behind is no joke. Doesn’t matter that the country he’s being sent to is the UK (although admittedly better than several other scenarios). It’s still devastating.
Maybe he should have that lawyer of his to start the legal process of immigration years ago. Or not committed felons in a country he is not a legal citizen in.
Amen.
That felony removes any immigration protections. And fathering childen who are American citizens doesn’t provide protection from deportation.
Not totally. While it is true that almost all drug convictions render a person ineligible for US visas or green cards, there are a few exceptions. Without knowing more about the particulars of his state drug crime, it is difficult to determine if he qualifies for any relief from deportation.
Ugh. That’s the problem with TPS. Last year people needed to reapply, and they were worried that by coming forward, ICE would keep their names and detain them. I know there’s a difference between TPS people and Dreamers (TPS holders were here legally as of the changes last year) but I feel like the same concepts apply. People who are working hard, own property, have US-born children, who are being forced to move back to a place that hasn’t been their home for 20+ years.
Why always the distinction of (black) Twitter when reporting on black interest stories?
Because that’s who came down on Demi. Not everyone else. Black twitter dragged her and she deleted her account because of her interactions with them.
Black twitter is a thing, that’s why it’s called that. There is a page on reddit called Black Twitter. And other pages on other social media platforms. There is also White Twitter. I assume there are other versions of it (I vaguely recall Mexican twitter too). It’s not this website putting labels on things, the labels are already there.
Personally I love Black twitter. White twitter is funny too but Black twitter is better, as far as the comedy goes. The memes about this are cracking me up too but I’ll refrain from tweeting about it less I face the same wrath Demi did.
He was arrested in America a few years go for an alleged crime. How did they not catch on to his immigration status then? Also, if he came to America at the age of 12 with his parents, where are his parents now? Did they go back to the UK or are they in America about to be deported as well? Did none of them ever file a tax return? I don’t understand any of this.
His felony was at state level, immigration is federal. A lot of people slip through the cracks because of that.
Oh I see. Thanks.
I always think it is inhuman to deport people who arrived in a country as a child. He is American. I came to My country at 6 years old. There’s no connection to where I was born.
Then every wannabe American would just bypass immigration by dragging their kids in and set up shop. If they get caught they will scream about how their kids have been here all their lives. This is not fair to both the people who apply and wait their turn or the citizens who always get the short end of the stick not matter the circumstance (black Americans). Eventually this has to stop.
In Brazil, there was a guy on the news last week crying about his deportation.
He was adopted when he was 4 years old by an american couple. No family in Brazil, doesn’t speak portuguese. Have two grown american children. His adopted parents never did the proper paperwork.
He commited two crimes when he was young. Was deported last week. No chance of going of back. It’s not always a simple solution.
How did they get him into the country without proper paperwork? Perhaps he wasn’t legally adopted. His parents are at fault and should be charged. If the government would charge the parents big bucks for committing what is obviously a crime – I mean tens of thousands of dollars for each kid – then this mess would come to an end.
@TabithaStevens: You can legally bring children here on orphan visas which is what happened to me. Once in the States my parents had to apply to get me a green card and then citizenship, it didn’t automatically happen. They passed a law a while ago making all 18 and under international adoptees legal citizens, but if you were older than that the law didn’t cover you.
A few other adoptees have been deported like Adam Crapser and Monte Haines (a US Army veteran, but apparently that doesn’t matter). There are a lot of ethical and legal problems with international adoption and the citizenship situation is more complicated than just “fining the parents” who are sometimes actively verbally, physically, or sexually abusive in addition to not giving enough of a crap to fill out the paperwork.
… ‘Monte Haines (a US Army veteran, but apparently that doesn’t matter)’. Wow. Put your life on the line – instant citizenship.
The situation is shady AF and repulsively inhumane to the family, but holy shit, do I feel for these kids whose parents treated an expired visa like a no big deal situation. My cousin’s ex-wife is an ex- specifically because she got deported under similar circumstances because she’d had no idea she wasn’t legal. It’s one thing if they flee here out of desperation, but like…the UK, really? Jesus, what a mess.
I feel like a lot of these comments are missing the point. He’s one of the people who “did everything right” i.e. he previously applied for a VISA in 2017, he supports himself, gives back to his community, actually shares his resources with his larger community…and yet he’s being detained in what appears to be rather arbitrary fashion. And the dude is a famous artist; so really what hope is there for regular people against ICE.
I also think people don’t quite understand the huge shift that occurred with the change from INS to ICE. I know plenty of people who had an okay (albeit very expensive) immigration experience but they were dealing with INS not ICE.