Judge allows Obama's illegal alien aunt to stay for now

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In a proceeding which was closed to the public, Judge Leonard Shapiro decided to put off a final decision on either to grant asylum to Zeituni Onyango, 57, or to issue the deportation of the Kenyan national for a few more months. A decision will be made no later than May 25.

Obama’s aunt came to this morning's hearing in immigration court in a wheelchair, asking for asylum for medical reasons. In 2002, the first time she asked for asylum, she cited ongoing violence in her native Kenya as the reason.

Zeituni Onyango, 57, who has been living in a Boston public housing project was first ordered deported in 2004, but refused to leave. She has been in the United States since 2000, and was ordered out of the country after she overstayed her visa.

The public first learned that Obama had an aunt living illegally in the U.S., just days before the 2008 Presidential election.

Obama claimed that he was unaware of her illegal status, and has not, at least publicly been involved in the case. Although, it is curious that only one month after Senator Obama became President Obama, U.S. Immigration Judge Leonard Shapiro granted his aunt a temporary stay, and agreed to reopen her asylum case.

In November, Onyango told the Associated Press that she has not spoken to her nephew in some time, saying: “Before, we were family. But right now, there is a lot of politics, and me, I am not interested in any politics at all.”

 

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