Jay-Z is lending his star power to help 21 Savage.
The hip-hop mogul reached out to secure support after his friend was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement over the weekend, who said they had “arrested unlawfully present United Kingdom national Sha Yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph AKA ’21 Savage’ during a targeted operation with federal and local law enforcement partners” because he is “unlawfully present in the U.S. and also a convicted felon.”
Jay-Z is helping to pay 21 Savage‘s legal bill. Attorney Alex Spiro confirmed to “E! News” that he was helping in the case after being hired by Jay and Roc Nation.
The “99 Problems” rapper has also branded the ongoing detainment of the 26-year-old rapper an “absolute travesty” and called for him to be released and reunited with his three kids.
He wrote in a social media post: “The arrest and detention of 21 Savage is an absolute travesty, his [U.S.] visa petition has been pending for four years.
“In addition to being a successful recording artist, 21 deserves to be reunited with his children immediately #Free21Savage.”
Spiro has vowed not to stop working on the case until the “Rockstar” hitmaker is released, insisting his client is a “wonderful person” who deserves his freedom.
He told TMZ: “We are not going to stop until he is released, bonded out or in front of a judge. … What we have here is someone who overstayed their Visa with an application pending for four years — not a convicted criminal that needs to be detained and removed but, by all accounts a wonderful person, father, and entertainer who has a marijuana offense which was vacated and sealed.”
The rapper’s legal team previously clarified that their client was born in London and moved to America when he was 7 years old.
They explained how Savage was born in the U.K. and arrived legally in the U.S. under an H-4 visa, where he stayed until 2005, when he left for around a month to visit his country of birth, before returning, again under a valid H-4 visa, in July 2005.
However, that expired the following year “through no fault” of the rapper.
The statement continued: “Mr. Abraham-Joseph has been continuously physically present in the United States for almost 20 years, except for a brief visit abroad. Unfortunately, in 2006 Mr. Abraham-Joseph’s legal status expired through no fault of his own.
“Mr. Abraham-Joseph, like almost two million of his immigrant child peers, was left without immigration status as a young child with no way to fix his immigration status. These ‘Dreamers’ come from all walks of life and every ethnicity.
“Mr. Abraham-Joseph has no criminal convictions or charges under state or federal law and is free to seek relief from removal in immigration court. ICE provided incorrect information to the press when it claimed he had a criminal conviction.”
