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Producer J-Sw!ft, who worked with The Pharcyde on their influential album Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde, is being held by U.S. Customs at the Canadian border after trying to return to the United States following a Pharcyde show in January. A GoFundMe page has been started to help him raise $25,000 to pay for legal fees.

According to the page, Sw!ft, who was born Juan Martinez in Madrid, Spain, had a ruling for deportation on August 8, 2014 due to a prior felony conviction. A week after the ruling, the producer's legal rep filed an appeal against that ruling and while the legal system played out, he toured nine countries in Europe without incident. When he attempted to returned from Vancouver, Canada, U.S. Customs denied his entry into the States even though his court documents state his appeal allows him to travel outside the U.S. until April of 2015. Sw!ft is currently in Vancouver and trying to get back into America to continue to fight his appeal.

Sw!ft has lived in the United States since 1974 when his family left Spain for Inglewood, California. His four young children currently reside in Los Angeles. He has been active on Twitter about his current situation.

J-Sw!ft is not the first member of the hip-hop community to face deportation. The Geto Boys' Bushwick Bill faced deportation in 2010, Slick Rick battled the courts for years about his status as a U.S. citizen following the government's crackdown on non-citizens following 9/11, and Shyne was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs in 2009.

[GoFundMe]

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