26-year-old rapper 21Savage, born She’yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, sat down for his first interview since being released from ICE custody with ABC News’ Linsey Davis. He is currently facing federal deportation proceedings for allegedly overstaying his U.S. visa.
21 told Davis, “I was just driving, and I (saw) guns and blue lights. And, then, I was in the back of a car, and I was gone.” He said the police never explained to him why he was being arrested. “No. They didn’t – they didn’t say nothing,” he said. ‘”They just said, ‘We got Savage’ … It was definitely targeted.”
21 shared with Davis he “didn’t even know what a visa was,” when asked if he knew his U.S. visa had expired. It was revealed after his arrest that the Atlanta rapper was born in London, England and moved to the U.S. when he was seven. He remained in the country ever since and returned to England with family for a month, 14 years ago. “I was seven when I first came here. And we had left in, like, 2005 ’cause my uncle died, my Uncle Foster. So we went back to go to his funeral, and, then, we came back,” he explained. “So that’s why I think [ICE] got it confused where they thought, like, that was my first coming.”
When asked if he was worried by the threat of deportation, he stated, “Yeah, but I feel like (I’ve) been through so much in my life, I learned to embrace the times when I’m down because they always build me up and take me to a new level in life,” he said. “So it’s like even if I’m sitting in a cell on 23-hour lockdown, in my mind, I know what’s gonna come after that. So I’m not happy about it. But I’m accepting of it.”
Davis asked if he considers himself to be a “Dreamer,” he replied, “I guess so.” 21 explained that because he was so young when he left the U.K., he doesn’t have many memories of his childhood there. “I went into first grade here, so I don’t really remember too much. I remember, like, my grandma house, and that’s probably about it. I didn’t really do much there,” he said, “I’ve been Atlanta probably 20 years, 19 years. I’m from Atlanta, in my eyes.”
Continued prayers for #21Savage ??
