London-born Slick Rick’s friends are joining forces to help keep the rapper in the U.S. after the federal government said it would make a second attempt to deport him for a 1990 incident, in which the rapper shot at his cousin and was arrested.
Citing a law made in 1996 calling for foreigners convicted of violent felonies to be deported, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has revived the case the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) began more than 10 years ago. In June 2002, Rick was arrested by the INS after performing on a Caribbean cruise ship and re-entering the U.S. through Florida. Though he was refused bail for more than a year, he was eventually released in 2003.
On Sept. 21, at the urging of the DHS, an appeals court in New York overturned the decision that freed Rick from prison. While he waits for his case to be heard, the government has removed Rick’s status as a permanent resident.
Meanwhile, Rick’s family and high-profile friends like Russell Simmons and Dr. Benjamin Chavis, who head the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, are rallying to keep him in the country with a press conference in New York on Oct. 24.
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Talk: Should Rick be allowed to remain in the U.S.? COMMENT
On the Web:
Hip-Hop Summit Action Network’s website
