Obama's Aunt Has Immigration Hearing in April

Filed in archive Americas on January 28, 2009

Her name is Zeituni Onyango. She is the half-sister of President Obama's late father and she has been living in the U.S. illegally since for about four years now. In April she will get a hearing in an immigration court to determine her future in the country.

Onyango's immigration status became a campaign issue briefly in the months before the election. The Bush Administration did its best to back away from the issue. There was a particular effort to avoid the issue after the election because the Bush Administration thought it would be viewed as retaliation of some sort if Obama's aunt was deported after he won the presidency but before he took office.

According to the Associated Press:

An immigration judge stayed her deportation order on Dec. 17. The judge reopened her case requesting asylum on Dec. 30, and she has a hearing on April 1 in a Boston immigration court, Elaine Komis, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Executive Office of Immigration Review, said Monday.

Onyango sought asylum in the U.S. because of ethnic in Kenya. President Obama has managed to avoid any involvement in the case so far...


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