Shayaa bin Abraham-Joseph, also known as 21 Savage, was arrested by the US authorities on Sunday for allegedly overstaying his visa.
The rap artist Jay-Z has declared the detention of a British-born rapper in the US an “absolute travesty” and has hired a leading lawyer to help with his case.
The music mogul used Facebook last night to call for the immediate release of Shayaa bin Abraham-Joseph, known as 21 Savage, who was arrested on Sunday for allegedly overstaying his visa.
The 26-year-old was born in Newham, east London to British parents but moved to the US legally with his mother at the age of 12. A rising star on the US rap scene, it had been assumed that Abraham-Joseph came from Atlanta, Georgia, but police say that he arrived on a temporary visa and never left. He faces deportation.
His plight has attracted widespread attention. His lawyers have suggested that he is being held over a song in which he criticises US immigration policy. They say that he should be released from custody because he has a pending visa application.
Jay-Z said: “The arrest and detention of 21 Savage is an absolute travesty, his U visa petition has been pending for 4 years. In addition to being a successful recording artist, 21 deserves to be reunited with his children immediately, #Free21Savage.”
Abraham-Joseph has three children: a daughter aged three and two boys aged five and four.
Jay-Z’s entertainment company, Roc Nation, has hired Alex Spiro, whose notable clients have included Mick Jagger, to assist with the case.
Mr Spiro told TMZ, a US entertainment website, that Abraham-Joseph’s lawyers would “not stop” until he was released. “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.”
Immigration authorities have said that when they stopped and arrested Abraham-Joseph on Sunday a check of his records showed that he appeared to have been convicted of a drug offence in 2014. Mr Spiro said, however, that the conviction had been wiped from his record.