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21 Savage's Lawyers Fight for His Release, Argue He's Not a Flight Risk

Home / News / 21 Savage's Lawyers Fight for His Release, Argue He's Not a Flight Risk

By TheBlast Staff on February 3, 2019 at 9:08 PM PST

21 Savage is being held without bond after he was arrested by ICE on Sunday and his legal team is fighting for his immediate release so he can prove his innocence.

The rapper's attorney, Charles H. Kuck, tells The Blast, that 21 Savage — real name She’yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph — was picked up by ICE "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."

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Kuck says Savage "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."

The attorney argues that 21 Savage cannot be held because he is neither "a threat [to] 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 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."

Kuck explains 21 Savage's immigration issue, saying, "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 concluded by saying, "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."

As The Blast previously reported, Savage's legal team has been trying to clear this up for months and the issue has to do with the validity of his paperwork when he entered the country.

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