By The illegal alien Aunt of the US President isn’t getting deported for the time being.
Barack Obama’s aunt, who lived in Cleveland last year, got a stay of her deportation order and her case has been reopened, a major development in any immigration case.
Zeituni Onyango, 56, the half-sister of Obama’s late father, will be represented by Cleveland immigration attorney Margaret Wong and associates at a hearing before an immigration judge scheduled for April 1 in Boston.
The stay was issued on Dec. 17 and a judge reopened her case, in which she requested asylum in the United States, on Dec. 30.
“Her case has been reopened and the immigration judge will be looking at evidence that they may not have been aware of four years ago,” said Michael Rogers, spokesman for Wong. “Wong is optimistic that the outcome will be favorable. We would have preferred to not conduct this case in the media spotlight, but that’s not going to happen.”
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Onyango came to America on a temporary visa in 2000, joining a son who had been accepted at a college in Boston, Wong said in December
Obama has said he did not know that his aunt was living in America illegally and that all appropriate laws should be followed.
I’d like to hear one person in Washington justify this when legal alien spouses of US citizens face deportation today and the widow of a dead marine is denied a green card. How can’t this be seen as some sign of favoritism in light of the other actions of HS I cite above? Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano, would you like to take a swing at this? How about any democrats out there?
10:04 am on January 27th, 2009 1
I think an exception will be made in her case. Probably someone will attach a line to an unrelated bill that will give her legal status. This occurs more than we know. Laws are made for the common people and do not always apply to individuals with status or power.
10:51 am on January 27th, 2009 2
I bet Kenya Embassy will hire her so she can stay in US. There might be some kind of diplomatic drug deal is going on right now. Just wait.
2:07 pm on January 27th, 2009 3
Obama would have to be as naive as many of his critics think he is to have any involvement, direct or indirect, for nor against that case."There might be some kind of diplomatic drug deal is going on right now."Wow! Now that's a tangent for you.
2:58 pm on January 27th, 2009 4
“This occurs more than we know. Laws are made for the common people and do not always apply to individuals with status or power.”So true, my family had to go through considerable expense and misery to get a green card for my wife. I guess we just didn’t have the right connections.
7:09 pm on January 27th, 2009 5
If the case has been re-opened pending the review of new evidence, then (just like everybody else accused of breaking the law) she should be given the benefit of the doubt until the final ruling. Without knowing exactly the details of the case, it's impossible to say if she does in fact have a valid reason that she should be allowed to stay, or if she's just skirting the law. It needn't be an either/or. The marine widow and legal alien spouses weren't being thrown or kept out unjustly because somebody else won leniency but rather because the system by which we decide these things is overworked, overstressed, and just plain messy. I agree that both the cases sited were absolutely unconscionable, but they weren't being penalized because other people were getting in in their place – they were penalized because of rotten implementation of what's on the books.And I really strongly doubt that Obama had anything personally to do with this – he'd be an idiot if he did, and whatever you might think about his policies or promises, he's not an idiot. Nor, apparently, is his aunt's lawyer.
12:57 pm on January 28th, 2009 6
Obama would be the biggest idiot in the world if he were getting involved in this, unless he actively pushed for her to be deported. That said, I can easily imagine some foolish supporter working the system because he thinks he's helping Obama out.I'm sure that once his aunt was identified in the media, the INS wants to pay extra careful attention to her case and make damn sure they have done everything perfectly.