{"id":792756,"date":"2019-02-05T16:41:50","date_gmt":"2019-02-05T23:41:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=790498"},"modified":"2019-02-05T16:41:50","modified_gmt":"2019-02-05T23:41:50","slug":"21-savage-legal-team-rapper-was-born-in-u-k-has-lived-in-u-s-since-age-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/music-news\/21-savage-legal-team-rapper-was-born-in-u-k-has-lived-in-u-s-since-age-7\/","title":{"rendered":"21 Savage Legal Team: Rapper Was Born in U.K., Has Lived in U.S. Since Age 7"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Since his arrest on Sunday night<\/a>, the particulars of 21 Savage<\/a>\u2018s legal situation have been murky. According to a Tuesday evening statement from his legal team,\u00a0headed<\/a> by immigration lawyer Charles H. Kuck, that\u2019s in part because previous statements from ICE contributed to the confusion by providing misinformation.<\/p>\n

According to the statement, the Atlanta rapper (real name She\u2019yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph) does not have any convictions to his name, contradicting a claim made earlier by ICE<\/a>. The statement further corrects the age at which Abraham-Joseph entered the United States: While earlier reports<\/a>, following ICE\u2019s lead, said he arrived in this country at age 14, according to Abraham-Joseph\u2019s team he was just 7.<\/p>\n

The statement also confirms, in the plainest terms to date, some of the key details of Abraham-Joseph\u2019s life. His lawyers say that he was born in the United Kingdom, but has resided here for the vast majority of his life: \u201cMr. Abraham-Joseph has been continuously physically present in the United States for almost 20 years, except for a brief visit abroad. Unfortunately, in 2006 Mr. Abraham-Joseph lost his legal status through no fault of his own.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement notes that Abraham-Joseph\u2019s 2017 application for a U Visa, which protects victims of crime and their families, is still pending. Only 10,000 of these are issued per year, so it\u2019s typical that the wait to receive one can last years.<\/p>\n

In its conclusion, Abraham-Joseph\u2019s legal team suggest that strictly enforcing immigration laws may not have been ICE\u2019s only motivating factor in Sunday\u2019s arrest. \u201cMany have speculated as to possible ulterior motives for his arrest and detention, including that he released music five days prior to his arrest by ICE, which included new lyrics\u00a0condemning the behavior of immigration officials for their detention of children at the border,\u201d the statement reads. \u201cWe are unaware of why ICE apparently targeted\u00a0Mr. Abraham-Joseph.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read the full statement below.<\/p>\n

Atlanta, GA \u2013 February 5, 2019<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 There has been a great deal of misreporting in the case of She\u2019yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, known professionally as 21 Savage.\u00a0\u00a0Conjecture and misinformation help no one make good decisions and leads to false conclusions.\u00a0\u00a0Here are the facts:<\/em><\/p>\n

Mr. Abraham-Joseph was born in the United Kingdom.\u00a0\u00a0Mr. Abraham-Joseph arrived legally in the United states at the age of 7 under an H-4 visa. He remained in the United States until June 2005, when he departed for approximately one month to visit the United Kingdom.\u00a0\u00a0He returned to the United States under a valid H-4 visa on July 22, 2005.\u00a0\u00a0Mr. Abraham-Joseph has been continuously physically present in the United States for almost 20 years, except for a brief visit abroad.\u00a0\u00a0Unfortunately, in 2006 Mr. Abraham-Joseph lost his legal status through no fault of his own.<\/em><\/p>\n

Mr. Abraham-Joseph, like almost two million of his immigrant child peers, was left without immigration status as a young child with no way to fix his immigration status.\u00a0\u00a0These \u201cDreamers\u201d come from all walks of life and every ethnicity.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Mr. Abraham-Joseph has no criminal convictions or charges under state or federal law and is free to seek relief from removal in immigration court.\u00a0\u00a0ICE provided incorrect information to the press when it claimed he had a criminal conviction.<\/em><\/p>\n

Mr. Abraham-Joseph has three US Citizen children, a lawful permanent resident mother and four siblings that are either US Citizens or lawful permanent residents. He has exceptionally strong ties in the United States, having lived here since he was in the first grade.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Because of his length of residence in the United States and his immediate relatives, Mr. Abraham-Joseph is eligible to seek Cancellation of Removal from an Immigration Judge.<\/em><\/p>\n

Mr. Abraham-Joseph was placed into deportation proceedings AFTER his arrest, he was not in deportation proceedings prior to this detention by ICE.\u00a0\u00a0DHS has known his address since the filing of a U visa application in 2017.\u00a0\u00a0He has never hidden from DHS or any of its agencies.<\/em><\/p>\n

Mr. Abraham-Joseph is not subject to mandatory detention under federal law and is eligible for bond.\u00a0\u00a0By statute, bond should be granted by ICE when there is no flight risk or a danger to the community.\u00a0\u00a0ICE has the ability to set a bond and conditions of release on cases exactly like this.\u00a0\u00a0ICE routinely grants bond to individuals in Mr. Abraham-Joseph\u2019s circumstances, specifically individuals who have overstayed a prior valid visa and have relief from deportation under federal law. There is no chance that Mr. Abraham-Joseph is a flight risk.\u00a0\u00a0Mr. Abraham-Joseph is not a \u201cdanger\u201d to the community as his acts of philanthropy and good will, as well as his music, continue to improve the communities from which he comes.<\/em><\/p>\n

Mr. Abraham-Joseph has a pending U visa application with the USCIS.\u00a0\u00a0This U visa was filed as a result of being the victim of a deadly shooting in 2013.\u00a0\u00a0That visa was filed in 2017 and remains pending.\u00a0\u00a0When granted, the U visa will afford him lawful status in the United States. Generally, ICE has recognized a pending facially valid U visa as a basis to delay removal proceedings and release individuals from custody.<\/em><\/p>\n

There continues to be no legal reason to detain Mr. Abraham-Joseph for a civil law violation that occurred when he was a minor, especially when people in his exact situation are routinely released\u00a0by ICE.\u00a0\u00a0Many have speculated as to possible ulterior motives for his arrest and detention, including that he released music five days prior to his arrest by ICE, which included new lyrics\u00a0condemning the behavior of immigration officials for their detention of children at the border.\u00a0\u00a0We are unaware of why ICE apparently targeted Mr. Abraham-Joseph, but we will do everything possible to legally seek his release and pursue his available relief in immigration court.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

via:: Rolling Stone<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since his arrest on Sunday night, the particulars of 21 Savage\u2018s legal situation have been murky. According to a Tuesday evening statement from his legal team,\u00a0headed by immigration lawyer Charles H. Kuck, that\u2019s in part because previous statements from ICE contributed to the confusion by providing misinformation. According to the statement, the Atlanta rapper (real […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-792756","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-13 17:43:27","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=792756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792756\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=792756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=792756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=792756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}