Federal Judge Blocks Slick Rick Deportation

A federal judge has blocked the deportation of Rick "Slick Rick" Walters. Judge Kimba Woods gives Walters more time to fight the deportation order stemming from his 5 year stint in prison for a 1990 shooting that left his cousin, the cousin’s pregnant girlfriend and a bystander wounded. Judge Kimba Wood’s ruling will give Walters […]

A federal judge has blocked the deportation of

Rick "Slick Rick" Walters. Judge Kimba Woods gives Walters more time

to fight the deportation order stemming from his 5 year stint in prison for

a 1990 shooting that left his cousin, the cousin’s pregnant girlfriend and a

bystander wounded.

Judge Kimba Wood’s ruling will give Walters extra

time to fight the INS’s deportation order stemming from the shooting. According

to United States law, any non-citizen who serves more than 5 years in prison

must be deported.

"It’s like a technicality where if

you served more than five years, you can be deported [if you are a immigrant],"

Rick told AllHipHop.com. "At the time, of the [original] appeals and everything,

it reached five years and 12 days."

Woods found that there was substantial proof

that Walters can prove he should not be deported.

"If it wasn’t for me being Slick Rick,

in the music industry, I probably wouldn’t get any coverage at all,"

Rick continued. "So that’s a blessing in disguise. People got to look

past music like, ‘He’s a human.’”

While the ruling raises the hopes for Rick defeating

the case, he will still remain behind bars outside of Tampa, in Bradenton, Florida.

I’m considered a flight risk, which we feel

is unfair because, if anything, you would be a flight risk when you first catch

your case, not after you finished your sentence," Rick continued. "It’s

been over six years [since I got out of jail]. I have a wife, kids, a whole

family, real estate, a rap career – Slick Rick. Its strange that they open

such a heavy watch [against me]."

Minister Benjamin Muhummad, President of the

Hip-Hop Summit Action Network that helped gain congressional support for Slick

Rick, was equally excited about the victory. "This was a very important

step and victory," Muhummad told AllHipHop.com. "Now we in the hip-hop

nation must demand Slick Rick’s. Let’s keep the pressure on President Bush!"