21 Savage was ‘definitely targeted’
Rapper’s lawyer says he was detained due to the anti-ICE lyrics he penned
LOS ANGELES In his first interview since being released from detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Tuesday, 21 Savage told Good Morning America that he was “definitely targeted” by the immigration-enforcement agency.
“I was just driving,” he said of his arrest on Feb. 3 on the grounds that he is from the United Kingdom and overstayed his visa.
“And I just seen guns and blue lights. And then, I was in the back of a car and I was gone. They didn’t say nothing. They just said, ‘We got Savage.’”
Lawyer Alex Spiro, who appeared with him on the show, cited the rapper’s music, which has been critical of the ICE, as one reason he was detained.
“There’s a lot of things about this case that are curious and troubling,” Spiro said. “He’s getting a visa, he’s operating in good faith, he’s performing, he’s giving back to his community, he’s a son, he’s a father and yet they take this step, this unusual step, to arrest him.”
Fans were confused in the hours after his arrest, as the rapper has always claimed to be from Atlanta. He was born in England and moved to Atlanta with he was family when he was seven. Apart from one visit to the U.K., that’s where he stayed.
“I’ve been in Atlanta probably 20 years, 19 years,” he said. “I’m from Atlanta, in my eyes. I’ve been here 20 years.”
Savage said advice from his mother helped him to cope with his incarceration. “’Visualize yourself, whatever you wanna do, just close your eyes and visualize yourself doing that. And as long as you do that, you will never be in jail,’” he recalled her saying.
He was also highly critical of the immigration-enforcement policies of U.S. President Donald Trump. “I don’t feel like you should be arrested and put in a place where a murderer would be for just being in the country for too long,” he said. “I don’t think the policy is broken, I think the way they enforce the policy is broken.”
He plans to use his platform to publicize the plight of others. “I feel your pain, and I’m gonna do everything in my power to try and bring awareness to your pain,” he said.
The rapper was released from ICE’s Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Ga., Wednesday, pending a deportation hearing. In a statement, attorneys Charles H. Kuck, Dina LaPolt and Alex Spiro on the rapper’s behalf, wrote: “For the past nine long days, we, on behalf of She’yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, known to the world as 21 Savage, have been speaking with ICE to both clarify his actual legal standing, his eligibility for bond, and provide evidence of his extraordinary contributions to his community and society.”
21 Savage’s legal team is a who’s who of top lawyers each specializing in different fields.
His personal lawyer Dina LaPolt is overseeing efforts concerning his detention, which she says points to “the bigger inequity: that this is a systemic problem in America. They have no right to keep him.”