Obama Aunt In US (On Welfare) Illegally

Just as we had suspected.

From a sympathetic Associated Press:

The public housing complex in South Boston where Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama’s aunt Zeituni Onyango reportedly lives is seen Thursday, Oct. 30, 2008. The Kenyan woman who has been quietly living in public housing in Boston, is in the United States illegally after an immigration judge rejected her request for asylum four years ago, The Associated Press has learned.

AP: Obama aunt from Kenya living in US illegally

By EILEEN SULLIVAN and ELLIOT SPAGAT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Barack Obama’s aunt, a Kenyan woman who has been quietly living in public housing in Boston, is in the United States illegally after an immigration judge rejected her request for asylum four years ago, The Associated Press has learned.

Zeituni Onyango, 56, referred to as “Aunti Zeituni” in Obama’s memoir, was instructed to leave the United States by a U.S. immigration judge who denied her asylum request, a person familiar with the matter told the AP late Friday. This person spoke on condition of anonymity because no one was authorized to discuss Onyango’s case.

Information about the deportation case was disclosed and confirmed by two separate sources, one of them a federal law enforcment official. The information they made available is known to officials in the federal government, but the AP could not establish whether anyone at a political level in the Bush administration or in the McCain campaign had been involved in its release.

Onyango’s refusal to leave the country would represent an administrative, non-criminal violation of U.S. immigration law, meaning such cases are handled outside the criminal court system. Estimates vary, but many experts believe there are more than 10 million such immigrants in the United States.

The AP could not reach Onyango immediately for comment. No one answered the telephone number listed in her name late Friday. It was unclear why her request for asylum was rejected in 2004.

Onyango is not a relative whom Obama has discussed in campaign appearances and, unlike Obama’s father and grandmother, is not someone who has been part of the public discussion about his personal life.

A spokeswoman for U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, Kelly Nantel, said the government does not comment on an individual’s citizenship status or immigration case.

Onyango’s case — coming to light just days before the presidential election — led to an unusual nationwide directive within Immigrations and Customs Enforcement requiring any deportations prior to Tuesday’s election to be approved at least at the level of ICE regional directors, the U.S. law enforcement official told the AP.

The unusual directive suggests that the Bush administration is sensitive to the political implications of Onyango’s case coming to light so close to the election…

The disclosure about Onyango came just one day after Obama’s presidential campaign confirmed to the Times of London that Onyango, who has lived quietly in public housing in South Boston for five years, was Obama’s half aunt on his father’s side.

It was not immediately clear how Onyango might have qualified for public housing with a standing deportation order.

What did Obama know and when did he know it?

Oh, wait, the Associated Press isn’t interest in such mundane matters. They have bigger fish to fry:

[T]he AP could not establish whether anyone at a political level in the Bush administration or in the McCain campaign had been involved in [the release of this information]…

Yes, that is certainly the most important thing here.

Also note that the AP didn’t mention that Obama’s aunt is perforce also receiving public assistance illegally.

And speaking of the AP, as the article does, wasn’t it considerate of them to wait for early Saturday morning to release this information?

It’s almost as if they don’t want anyone to know.