Hip-hop star 21 Savage has been released from ICE detention nine days after he was taken into custody.
The British-born rapper — real name She’yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph — was arrested Feb. 3 for allegedly being in the United States after his visa expired.
“Today, 21 Savage was granted a release on bond,” his attorneys said in a statement Tuesday. “He won his freedom.”
The statement from lawyers Charles H. Kuck, Dina LaPolt and Alex Spiro continues, “He will not forget this ordeal or any of the other fathers, sons, family members, and faceless people, he was locked up with or that remain unjustly incarcerated across the country. And he asks for your hearts and minds to be with them.”
Savage, 26, is accused by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of being an “unlawfully present United Kingdom national” who entered the United States in July 2005 on a one-year visa and remained after it ran out.
Following his release on bail, the artist is still facing a deportation hearing, TMZ reported.
A day after Savage’s arrest, his legal team asserted the rapper “never hid his immigration status” and slammed his detainment as a “civil law violation.”
“ICE has not charged Mr. Abraham-Joseph with any crime,” Kuck said in a Feb. 4 statement. “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.”
Many rallied around the rapper’s cause in the days since his arrest, with fellow hip hop star JAY-Z’s company Roc Nation enlisting Spiro to aid the legal fight.
“The arrest and detention of 21 Savage is an absolute travesty,” Jay-Z said in a statement shared on his Facebook page last week.
Savage’s attorney contends that Savage has a pending application for a U Visa, which he applied for in 2017.
