Slick Rick Facing Deportation… Again

By Quibian Salazar-Moreno

      Back in 2003, Slick Rick and his family thought that his legal troubles with immigration and the government were over. Now the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is bringing his name back to the courts to try and get him deported to England, his place of birth.

      The debacle started in 1990 when Rick was convicted for shooting his cousin and a bystander, accusing his cousin of extortion. He served his time and was released in 1994. In 1996, however, there was a law passed that called for non-U.S. citizens who have been convicted of a felony to be deported to their country of origin and this law became even more enforced after 9/11.

      So after Rick did a show on a Caribbean cruise ship in June 2002, he was arrested by the INS (now DHS) when he reentered the U.S. in Florida. He was told because he was a British citizen and a convicted felon that he would be deported. He was detained in Florida for 17 months while the INS tried to get him deported, but their request was denied by U.S. courts and Rick was freed in November of 2003.

      Now the DHS has revived Rick’s case and hopes to reverse the decision from 2003 within Florida’s 11^th Circuit. In the mean time, the government has removed Rick’s permanent resident status and his right to leave the country. There’s no word on when Rick will go back to court but he and his wife Mandy Aragones have contacted the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN) for support.

      "With all of the real and present threats to American society from terrorism, why is the government chasing this rapper?” Dr. Ben Chavis, co-chairman of HSAN said. “It’s an obscene misuse of scarce resources. The government is conducting a vendetta against Rick and we’re not going to stand for it.”

      Chavis and the HSAN will hold a press conference on the sidewalk in front of Worth Street entrance to the Federal Court Building at 500 Pearl Street in New York City on Tuesday, October 24 at 11 a.m.