bella
12-25-2002, 05:14 PM
I am going to copy this to the immigration forum but wanted to post it here as well, only because there is more traffic here.
(david, let me know if you want me to move it to immigration all together)
I just wanted everyone to see a prime example of what INS is doing in this country. Hey, maybe Russel Simmon can help fight for everyone dealing with this. You think so....Nah
Jailed Rapper Slick Rick Awaits Deportation To England
By ALEX VEIGA The Associated Press
Published: Dec 25, 2002
BRADENTON - For six months, Ricky ``Slick Rick'' Walters has been hoping for the best and preparing for the worst, but now the worst is imminent.
At any moment, the 1980s rapper known for crafting humorous rhymes on classic tracks like ``Mona Lisa'' and ``The Show'' could be deported to England, where he was born 37 years ago, his ability to legally travel to the United States seriously hampered forever.
From a cell in Manatee County Jail, 1,200 miles away from his home in the Bronx, N.Y., Walters has watched as his appeals have been rejected. He now waits for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service to carry out the order to send him to a country where he hasn't lived since he was 11. And he wonders about what it will all mean for his career and his family.
``My whole life has been uprooted. One minute you're in America, you got your ties ... the next minute you're being deported,'' Walters said. ``It's ripping [my] whole family apart. It's nerve-racking.''
Walters is facing deportation because of an attempted murder conviction 11 years ago.
In 1990, a year after his solo debut album, ``The Great Adventures of Slick Rick,'' went platinum, Walters shot his cousin, the cousin's then-pregnant girlfriend and a bystander, during a dispute. He pleaded guilty and spent five years in a New York prison.
In the years that followed, Walters returned to the Bronx, where he owns property, to focus on raising his son and daughter, now both 11, and getting his career back on track.
But in June, three months after he was inducted into the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame along with his original partner, Doug E. Fresh, a U.S. law requiring the INS to deport foreigners convicted of ``aggravated felonies,'' such as murder, rape and some lesser offenses, caught up with Walters.
Citing a 1997 Board of Immigration Appeals order to deport him, INS agents arrested Walters as he came into port after performing on a Caribbean cruise. He has been in the Bradenton jail ever since.
``It's like being repunished,'' Walters said. ``I was in the process of working on another album. I'd been on the street for seven years, no problems.''
Walters has taken to calling New York radio stations to speak about his situation. Russell Simmons, who owns Walters' label, Def Jam Records, has lobbied members of Congress for support and collected thousands of signatures on a petition calling for Walters to be allowed to return to New York while he fights his deportation.
But it doesn't look good.
``Looks like a 95 percent chance that I'm being deported,'' Walters said. ``So I have to be a realist. I have to prepare myself for the worst right now.''
Mandy Walters, 25, a New York native, says she has been preparing for a new life in London, where the couple plans to live if Walters is deported. She said Walters' children, who live with their mother from a previous relationship, are aware of the situation.
``They're old enough to understand,'' their father said.
Walters said he has spent much of his time in jail reflecting on what put him in the position in the first place.
``I would tell my fans to learn from my mistake and never take the law in your own hand,'' he said. ``It's an old case, [but] it still comes back to haunt you.''
(david, let me know if you want me to move it to immigration all together)
I just wanted everyone to see a prime example of what INS is doing in this country. Hey, maybe Russel Simmon can help fight for everyone dealing with this. You think so....Nah
Jailed Rapper Slick Rick Awaits Deportation To England
By ALEX VEIGA The Associated Press
Published: Dec 25, 2002
BRADENTON - For six months, Ricky ``Slick Rick'' Walters has been hoping for the best and preparing for the worst, but now the worst is imminent.
At any moment, the 1980s rapper known for crafting humorous rhymes on classic tracks like ``Mona Lisa'' and ``The Show'' could be deported to England, where he was born 37 years ago, his ability to legally travel to the United States seriously hampered forever.
From a cell in Manatee County Jail, 1,200 miles away from his home in the Bronx, N.Y., Walters has watched as his appeals have been rejected. He now waits for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service to carry out the order to send him to a country where he hasn't lived since he was 11. And he wonders about what it will all mean for his career and his family.
``My whole life has been uprooted. One minute you're in America, you got your ties ... the next minute you're being deported,'' Walters said. ``It's ripping [my] whole family apart. It's nerve-racking.''
Walters is facing deportation because of an attempted murder conviction 11 years ago.
In 1990, a year after his solo debut album, ``The Great Adventures of Slick Rick,'' went platinum, Walters shot his cousin, the cousin's then-pregnant girlfriend and a bystander, during a dispute. He pleaded guilty and spent five years in a New York prison.
In the years that followed, Walters returned to the Bronx, where he owns property, to focus on raising his son and daughter, now both 11, and getting his career back on track.
But in June, three months after he was inducted into the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame along with his original partner, Doug E. Fresh, a U.S. law requiring the INS to deport foreigners convicted of ``aggravated felonies,'' such as murder, rape and some lesser offenses, caught up with Walters.
Citing a 1997 Board of Immigration Appeals order to deport him, INS agents arrested Walters as he came into port after performing on a Caribbean cruise. He has been in the Bradenton jail ever since.
``It's like being repunished,'' Walters said. ``I was in the process of working on another album. I'd been on the street for seven years, no problems.''
Walters has taken to calling New York radio stations to speak about his situation. Russell Simmons, who owns Walters' label, Def Jam Records, has lobbied members of Congress for support and collected thousands of signatures on a petition calling for Walters to be allowed to return to New York while he fights his deportation.
But it doesn't look good.
``Looks like a 95 percent chance that I'm being deported,'' Walters said. ``So I have to be a realist. I have to prepare myself for the worst right now.''
Mandy Walters, 25, a New York native, says she has been preparing for a new life in London, where the couple plans to live if Walters is deported. She said Walters' children, who live with their mother from a previous relationship, are aware of the situation.
``They're old enough to understand,'' their father said.
Walters said he has spent much of his time in jail reflecting on what put him in the position in the first place.
``I would tell my fans to learn from my mistake and never take the law in your own hand,'' he said. ``It's an old case, [but] it still comes back to haunt you.''