Rapper 21 Savage says he was 'targeted' in ICE arrest
Rapper 21 Savage says he was "definitely targeted" in his arrest Feb. 3 by agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
"I was just driving, and I just seen guns and blue lights. And then I was in the back of a car, and I was gone," he said in an interview aired Friday on Good Morning America.
The Atlanta-based rapper was giving his first interview since being released on $100,000 bond on Wednesday.
He also said that amid the chaos, no one told him why he was being arrested.
"They didn't say nothing," he said. "They just said, 'We got Savage.'"
ICE officials say 21 Savage, whose given name is Sha Yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, is a British national who has overstayed his visa.
Came to U.S. as a child
He was brought to the U.S. legally by his mother as a child, but his visa expired in 2006, ICE said.
"I didn't even know what a visa was," Abraham-Joseph, now 26, said of his arrival at age seven.
He said he knew he was born in Britain, but didn't talk about it because he didn't want to get deported. Most fans considered him an Atlanta native.
Now he said he's concerned that he might be deported to Britain. He has two children born in the U.S.
Watch: 21 Savage interview with Good Morning America
He may also face a 10-year ban from re-entering the U.S. — which could affect the career of the Grammy-nominated artist.
His arrest came days after the release of the music video for his song A Lot, which includes lyrics critical of America's immigration policy under President Donald Trump. His lawyers have suggested his arrest was linked to those lyrics.
Attorney Alex Spiro said he believes Abraham-Joseph was targeted "because he's both a celebrity and they can use this as a way to send a message and also, perhaps, because of his music."
His lawyers have said he applied for a new visa in 2017, and his case remains pending. One of his lawyers, Charles Kuck, said earlier this week that if the case follows the normal trajectory, it could take two to three years.
Abraham-Joseph said he believes the way immigration policy is enforced is broken, that he doesn't think people "should be arrested and put in a place where a murderer would be for just being in the country for too long."
Savage 21 had thoughts for the people still at the detention centre where he was held. "I feel your pain, and I'm going to do everything in my power to try to bring awareness to your pain," he told Good Morning America.
A Black Lives Matter petition requesting that he stay in the U.S. has been signed by close to half a million people.
