ATLANTA (CelebrityAccess) Grammy-nominated rapper 21 Savage, real name Sha Yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement early Sunday morning, claiming that Abraham-Joseph is actually from the United Kingdom and overstayed his visa.
The rapper was taken into custody in a “targeted operation,” in metro Atlanta, ICE spokesman Bryan Cox told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Abraham-Joseph, 26, has claimed to be from Atlanta and has long been considered a local act. Last fall, he gave free school supplies to more than 2,500 DeKalb County school students, the Journal-Constitution said.
According to Cox, however, Abraham-Joseph is an “unlawfully present United Kingdom national” who came to the States in 2005 on a visa and it expired a year later. He was also convicted of felony drug charges in 2014, Cox said, adding that the rapper has been placed in “removal proceedings before the federal immigration courts.”
The ICE official said the arrest arose from a traffic stop during which three other people who were with the rapper were arrested by DeKalb police.
“We are working diligently to get Mr. Abraham-Joseph out of detention while we work with the authorities to clear up any misunderstandings,” lawyer Dina LaPolt told the Associated Press.
21 Savage is up for two Grammys, including record of the year for “Rockstar” alongside Post Malone. His second album, I Am I Was, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard albums chart.
