21 Savage is facing deportation after being arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Atlanta on Sunday.
According to ICE, the 26-year-old rapper is an “unlawfully present United Kingdom national” who came to the U.S. on a visa in July 2005 as opposed to the Atlanta native many of us believed him to be.
His visa expired a year later and he has been living in the United States ever since.
Daily Mail has uncovered the rapper’s birth certificate and it indicates he was born to two British parents in London. According to reports, he lived in the UK for 12 years before relocating to Atlanta with his mother.
His U.K. birth certificate shows he was born Shéyaa bin Abraham on October 22, 1992 at Newham Hospital, in east London, and his parents, Heather Joseph and Kevin Emmons, are also British.
For those keeping up with the story, 21 has twin sisters still living in London — choreographers Kyra and Jayda. Jayda took to Twitter to explain her brother’s citizenship:
“But Shaayaa moved to America when he was mad young, so he basically is American, he grew up there,” wrote Jayda. “I’m bare confused as to how they’re trying to deport him though… He’s been comfortable this whole time, even when he was gangbanging and shit. This smells fishy.”
21 has been doing a lot for his community, so this whole situation is unfortunate. Hopefully he’s able to figure out a way to stay in the United States.
