Press and Public Barred from Obama's illegal alien welfare Aunt hearing!
Posted on Tuesday, March 24 @ 09:19:30 EDT
Topic: Barack Obama Campaign for President
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 ALIPAC NOTE: We strongly protest the secrecy surrounding these proceedings. This case is a matter of national interest and national importance. There is already a strong opinion in the nation that this illegal alien is receiving special treatment because of Obama. If this court thinks they will lift her deportation orders behind closed doors leaving the public scratching our heads the court has obviously not considered the negative impact that will have on America.
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Back in Boston, Obama's aunt fighting deportation
President Barack Obama's aunt, a Kenyan
immigrant who ignited controversy last year for living in the United
States illegally, has returned to her quiet apartment in a Boston
public housing project to prepare for an April 1 deportation hearing
that will be closed to the public.
Zeituni Onyango, a tall, frail-looking woman in her late 50s who
walks with a cane, had fled Boston to stay with relatives in Cleveland
last fall after media attention erupted over her case. She was spotted
at Obama's inaugural festivities in January and, according to
neighbors, returned to Boston a few weeks ago for her third attempt to
fight removal from the United States. She had been living in the
country illegally since she was ordered deported in 2004.
By Maria Sacchetti, Globe Staff | March 24, 2009
Now the woman Obama called "Auntie Zeituni" and
described as a kindly woman who kissed him on both cheeks and guided
him during his trip to Kenya 20 years ago, is in a national spotlight,
where her case is seen as a test of the Obama admin istration's
commitment to enforcing immigration laws. Critics, outraged that she is
living in taxpayer-funded public housing while thousands of citizens
and legal immigrants are on waiting lists, are scrutinizing the case
for political favoritism. Others caution that she may have legitimate
grounds to stay in the United States.
"The case is unusual in American history because it's a relative of
the president involved in immigration matters," said Mark Krikorian,
executive director of the Washington-based Center for Immigration
Studies. "It really does present the White House with an opportunity or
a minefield. If they follow through on a decision that she should go
home, that would actually raise the president's credibility enormously
on immigration enforcement."
Obama has said that he has not had any involvement in the case and
that it should run its ordinary course, White House spokesman Ben
LaBolt said.
Onyango's fate will play out behind closed doors before Judge
Leonard Shapiro in Boston. Onyango's lawyer, Margaret Wong of Ohio,
successfully argued to reopen her case in December and have the
proceedings closed to the public, according to the Executive Office for
Immigration Review, which oversees immigration courts.
Onyango declined two requests for interviews in recent days, and told a reporter to stop wasting her time.
"I'm not happy," Onyango said, bundled up in a parka against the spring chill as she went to pick up her mail.
Wong has not responded to repeated requests for comment. But her
spokesman told the Cleveland Plain Dealer in January that Onyango would
present new evidence to back an asylum claim. Onyango has lost several
attempts to fight deportation, said immigration court spokeswoman
Elaine Komis. In 2003, a judge ordered her to leave the country, and
she lost on appeal. She tried again, but an immigration judge ordered
her deported in October 2004. Komis would not confirm whether Onyango
had sought asylum before now because, she said, asylum cases are
confidential.
Shapiro, an immigration judge since 1990, rejected 68 percent of
asylum requests from 2002 to 2007, higher than the state and national
averages, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse
at Syracuse University. Asylum seekers must show that they fear
persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or
membership in a social group.
Still, immigration lawyers said she has a chance because she managed to get a hearing.
Onyango is a half-sister of the president's late father, Barack
Obama Sr., who was absent most of Obama's life and who died in a car
accident in 1982. The president met his aunt during a trip to Kenya in
1988 and included her in his 1995 memoir, "Dreams from My Father," but
has said he was unaware of her immigration issues.
Onyango, then a computer programmer, served as a translator,
storyteller, and guide during his Kenya trip. She shared stories about
his father's struggles and her own. She said Obama's father helped her
get out of an abusive marriage when she was jobless and had no money.
She came to the United States in 2000 to find work and to seek a
better life. Though she was ordered deported in 2004, she remained in
the United States undetected until just before Election Day.
Aida Ramos, a neighbor, said Onyango is a humble, independent woman
who suffers from back problems and is upset about the media attention
over her case. She said Onyango quietly helps her neighbors, from
counseling them on child-rearing to health issues.
"She's a very nice lady who wants to live her life," said Ramos.
"Because she's Obama's aunt she's getting all this attention she didn't
even want."
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