Early Sunday morning, Grammy nominated rapper 21 Savage was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement while in Atlanta. He was detained for allegedly overstaying his visa and he may face deportation.

ICE spokesperson Bryan Cox says that the rapper ​– whose real name is Shayaa Bin Abraham-Joseph – is really a U.K. citizen and that he has been overstaying his nonimmigrant visa since it expired in July 2006. ​He is currently being held in ICE custody in Georgia and is awaiting for a federal immigration judge to determine the outcome of his case.

The news of this surprised many fans as they had assumed that the grammy-nominated rapper was born in Atlanta, since he often talked about his rough childhood in the city’s Eastside. He has said that the “21” in his name is in reference to a street gang in Decatur, and even his wikipedia page had claimed that he was from Atlanta.

Representatives of Abraham-Joseph have came out to say that the rapper immigrated to the U.S. when he was 7 years old, departed in 2007 to visit the U.K. and returned later that month. He claims his legal status expired in 2006 “through no fault of his own” and that he applied for a visa in 2017 when he became aware that needed one. His representative goes on to mention Abraham-Joseph’s ties to the United States. The statement reads:

“Mr. Abraham-Joseph has three U.S. Citizen children, a lawful permanent resident mother and four siblings that are either US Citizens or lawful permanent residents. He has exceptionally strong ties in the United States, having lived here since he was in the first grade. Because of his length of residence in the United States and his immediate relatives, Mr. Abraham-Joseph is eligible to seek Cancellation of Removal from an Immigration Judge.”

Abraham-Joseph’s lawyers are working to get him released from detention and in a statement released shortly after his arrest, they called it “a civil law violation.” Congressman Hank Johnson from Georgia even sent a letter to the immigration judge who is set to oversee Abraham-Joseph’s case, advocating for the rapper’s release. Johnson writes that he is an “outstanding figure and influence” for the youth of Atlanta.