Black Lives Matter has teamed up with other civil rights groups to launch a petition against the deportation of rapper 21 Savage.
The Atlanta rapper was arrested and detained by ICE agents on Sunday night over claims that he is British and illegally in the U.S. after overstaying his visa issued in 2005. The Black Lives Matter Global Network has responded with a petition that demands for Savage’ (real name She’yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph) deportation to be halted.
RELATED: 21 Savage Lawyer Accuses ICE of Trying to Intimidate Him Into Leaving The U.S.
BLM joined a coalition with other civil rights organizations to launch the petiton, including Undocublack, a network of undocumented black people, Color of Change, a civil rights advocacy non-profit, and Define American, an organization which uses storytelling to attempt to redefine how America understands immigration and citizenship.
According to the petition, the rapper’s arrest and attempted deportation are part of a systematic trend against black immigrants in America.
Read the full petition
The hundreds of ICE assaults and detention of Black immigrants is
an endemic in the UnitedStates, and is too often carried out with the assistance of local law enforcement. On February 3rd in the early afternoon, organizers were alerted to the arrest and detention of rapper, father, community activist and friend She’yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph -21 Savage.The circumstances of Mr. Abraham-Joseph’s detention stand as a testament to the consistent and historically under-reported harassment and targeting of Black immigrants. The US’ violent history of criminalizing Blackness intersects with its deadly legacy of detaining and deporting Black and Brown immigrants. This needs to stop today! There are around 4.2 Million Black immigrants in the U.S. – 619,000 are undocumented. Mr. Abraham-Joseph has been in the United States since he was a young child. Atlanta is his home.
He has no current or prior criminal convictions and he is beloved by his friends, fans
and family. It is shameful that he and so many Black immigrants are separated from their families on a daily basis as part of the US’s heartless and racist immigration policies.Demand that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) stop the deportation of She’yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph – 21 Savage NOW!
RELATED: 21 Savage Facing Deportation Back to The U.K. After ICE Arrest
