A Grammy award nominee and rapper, arrested by officers of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for allegedly overstaying his visa in the state, is in detention.
Savage, 21, whose original name is Sha Yaa Bin Abraham Joseph, was arrested on Sunday with officers claiming that he is a British national and not from Georgia as he claimed.
This is as Dina LaPolt, the rapper’s lawyer, described the arrest as only a misunderstanding, saying necessary steps are being taken to get Savage out of detention.
However, Bryn Cox, a spokesman of the ICE, told a local Atlanta paper that the Grammy award nominee is “an unlawfully present United Kingdom national” who got into the US in 2005 with a visa that expired the following year.
Cox said the rapper was arrested and convicted for felony drug charges in 2014 – but at the time, the US Department of Homeland Security was unaware that he was British.
“Mr Abraham-Joseph is a role model to the young people in this country, especially in Atlanta, Georgia, and is actively working in the community-leading programs to help underprivileged youths in financial literacy,” LaPolt told E! Online.
“We are working diligently to get Mr Abraham-Joseph out of detention while we work with the authorities to clear out any misunderstanding.”
Savage is being considered for two Grammy awards having bagged nominations in the Record of the Year and Best Rap/Sung Performance categories.
Demi Lovato, on Monday, deleted her Twitter account after her tweets about the rapper resulted in a backlash from fans.
