Rapper’s appeals fall on deaf ears

The clock is ticking on Slick Rick’s battle to remain in the United States. Barring an unlikely last-minute reprieve from federal jurists, the rapper will be deported to his native England by the end of next week, his attorney said Monday.

The 37-year-old rapper, born Richard Walters, spent his 192nd day in custody Monday at a immigration detention facility in Manatee County, Fla., and awaited word from the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta on his request for a stay of deportation.

“Rick is at the mercy of the courts, but it’s clear that [immigration authorities] are doing everything they can to get him out of the country as quickly as possible,” said Alex Solomiany, his Miami-based lawyer.

Immigration authorities have sought to expel Walters under a law that calls for the deportation of any noncitizen who serves more than five years in a U.S. prison.

Walters served five years and 14 days after a 1991 conviction on attempted murder charges for a New York street showdown. He pleaded guilty to shooting a cousin he said had been extorting money and threatening Walters’ family. Seven months before he walked out of prison, Walters and his attorneys secured a waiver for him to remain in the country, where he had been a legal resident since his arrival in 1976 at age 11. The Immigration and Naturalization Service, however, continued to pursue the matter and eventually had the waiver negated.

Walters has said that the confusing twists in his court case left him oblivious to the fact that his name was on a warrant. Immigration officials, however, were aware of his status and arrested the rapper on June 1 in Miami after they came across his name on a cruise ship manifest. He had been among the performers booked to entertain passengers on a Caribbean voyage. Six years removed from prison, he was back in custody for a criminal past he thought he had put behind him.

“It was devastating,” Rick told The Times in a July phone interview. “You believe you served your time for the mistake you made and that you’ve rehabilitated yourself.... I don’t believe I’m a bad person. The whole incident was years ago. I’ve been out and six years crime-free. All this now seems like an extreme measure.”

Numerous hip-hop luminaries have stepped forward to speak on Slick Rick’s behalf, among them music mogul Russell Simmons and rapper-actor Will Smith. They have pointed not only to Walters’ peaceful demeanor and his family life in the Bronx but also to his contributions as a performer. Often a cartoonish Lothario in his lyrics, the flamboyant performer hit the scene in the mid-1980s with his trademark eye patch and hits such as “The Show” and “La Di Da Di.”

INS officials in Florida could not be reached for comment Monday, but the government’s case has been straightforward: Neither celebrity nor character matters in the face of a law that is clearly written. Solomiany said he also perceives in this case a broader trend in which noncitizens with criminal profiles face rigid treatment amid current fears of terrorism.

“They don’t want to hear his case,” Solomiany said, “they don’t want to hear what he or others have to say.”