Rapper 21 Savage was last week detained by ICE, who claim the rapper arrived in America in 2005 and failed to leave when his Visa expired a year later.
ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) arrested the rapper (real name Shayaa Bin Abraham-Joseph) while he was in a vehicle in Atlanta, Georgia. It was commonly believed that Savage was an Atlanta native, with Savage himself claiming several times to be from the Atlanta area. However, after his birth certificate was sourced by Reuters it was confirmed that the artist was actually born in Newham, East London. Meaning Savage was a neighbour of Danny Dyer and Idris Elba, who are also Newham natives, not that we’ll be seeing ‘21 Savage’s Toughest Prison’s’ or a Luther cameo soon. Yet, very little other than this fact is actually known about Savage’s background with some questioning where his British accent has gone and whether his American accent is a façade.
Savage claims that he applied for a Visa in 2017 when he realised it was a legal requirement and that his original Visa ran out in 2006 through no fault of his own. However, Savage’s lawyers claim that he is likely to be able to stay in the US due to his close ties to the country, having 3 children who are US citizens and a mother with lawful permanent residence. One theory that surrounds 21’s arrest is that his recent comments about immigration in a recent song may have provoked ICE to detain him. This seems a far-fetched claim, but Savage has been arrested once before and his citizenship wasn’t flagged up so this claim does seem to have some weight to it.
Nonetheless, should 21 return to the UK, could we see a homecoming tour of UK cities? Or possibly the pubs of East London? No one knows for sure what the situation may hold, but new developments are likely to come to fruition by the end of the week, with much speculation surrounding his apprehension.
