Thread: ALIPAC: Obama's Kenyan Aunt Makes Second Asylum Request to A

Obama's Kenyan Aunt Makes Second Asylum Request to Avoid Deportation


Zeituni Onyango Claims No Contact With White House, Obamas


Zeituni Onyango Claims No Contact With White House, Obamas
By DEVIN DWYER
WASHINGTON, Feb. 4, 2010


When President Obama's Kenyan aunt appears before a U.S. immigration judge in Boston today, she says she will literally be making the case for her life.
Hear from residents of the president's ancestral hometown in Africa.

Zeituni Onyango, 56, is fighting a 2004 deportation order by seeking asylum in this country – a status granted to those who cannot return home out of fear of being persecuted.

But just what persecution Onyango claims to face and whether a judge will find her fears well-founded is uncertain. Onyango first applied for asylum in 2002 "due to violence in Kenya" but was denied and ordered to leave the country.

Instead of returning home, the woman who helped raise the president's half brothers and sister in Kenya and whom Obama affectionately referred to as "Auntie Zeituni" in his memoir, has remained illegally in Boston, living in subsidized public housing.



Now the case, which first surfaced in October 2008, just before the presidential election, is once again drawing international attention and sparking speculation about whether Obama will intervene on her behalf.

"President Obama must either deport his aunt or destroy his own credibility by showing her favoritism," said William Gheen of the conservative Americans for Legal Immigration PAC.

The White House has insisted that it has no involvement with Onyango's case, leaving it to follow an ordinary course before a federal judge who will apply the rule of law. For her part, Onyango told The Associated Press she has not been in contact with anyone from the White House or been contacted by them.

Onyango did not respond to ABC News' requests for interviews.

"She hasn't been in touch with the president. He can't help her," Mike Rogers, spokesman for Onyango's attorney Margaret Wong, told ABC News.

The Department of Homeland Security, which is part of the Obama administration, is prosecuting the case, which will be heard in a closed hearing before U.S. Immigration Court Judge Leonard Shapiro.

Shapiro is a civil service employee and not a political appointee, according to the court.

"The lawyers aren't discussing any strategy, but they feel confident," said Rogers. "Margaret Wong feels 95 percent certain that she will prevail."

Will Obama's Kenyan Aunt Get Rare U.S. Asylum?

While details of Onyango's asylum request are not being disclosed, her case was at least compelling enough to convince Shapiro in December 2008 to take the unusual step of reopening the matter and issuing a stay on her deportation.

Experts speculate that Onyango could be claiming that her relationship to Obama makes her a target of Kenya's political tribal factions fearing her perceived influence, or of Islamic extremist groups seeking to inflict harm on the U.S. president's family.

Asylum is granted by law in cases when an individual faces "persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion," according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service.


"Certainly, the Kenyan government would not be interested in harming her," said D.C. immigration lawyer Andres Benach, who regularly takes asylum cases, but is not involved in this case. "So she would have to show that it would be persecution by groups that the Kenyan government is unable or unwilling to control -- maybe al Qaeda-like organizations that operate with a measure of impunity in Kenya."

Convincing a judge that Onyango would face persecution because of her familial relationship with Obama will be hard to prove, Benach said.

Most people who apply for asylum don't receive it because the burden of proof for the feared persecution is that it has at least a 10 percent chance of happening.

"Personal vendettas, random crime, conditions everybody is subjected to, do not support asylum," Benach said.

In 2008, the Department of Justice Executive Office for Immigration Review completed 46,237 asylum cases -- 10,743 of which were granted, 13,199 were denied, and 22,295 were other closures, agency spokeswoman Lauren Alder Reid told ABC News.

Kenyans have made up a relatively small portion of asylum requests over the past 10 years. Of the 343 applications, only 60 were granted asylum.

At today's hearing, Shapiro will hear arguments and receive evidence – including possible witness testimony – from both sides. He will then decide whether to grant asylum or reinstate the deportation order.


http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/presiden ... 175&page=1

Good Work William!

Obama's Kenyan aunt Zeituni Onyango allowed to stay in U.S. while deportation battle continues

BY Beverly Ford
DAILY NEWS WRITER

Thursday, February 4th 2010, 9:10 PM


President Obama's aunt Zeituni Onyango departs with unidentified companion after requesting asylum at a closed immigration hearing Thursday in Boston.



BOSTON - President Obama's Kenyan aunt gets to stay in this country a little longer while her deportation battle continues.

An immigration judge on Thursday heard two hours of testimony from Zeituni Onyango, 57, and gave lawyers until mid-March to file written arguments.

Onyango entered court in a wheelchair with a cane across her lap. She smiled, but didn't speak to reporters. Doctors also spoke on behalf of Onyango, who has said she suffers from Guillain-Barré syndrome.

Obama hasn't intervened for his aunt, who was found living in a housing project here in 2008. She came to the U.S. in 2000 and was ordered out in 2004 after an asylum request was rejected, but she did not leave.

"She really wants to stay in America," said her lawyer, Margaret Wong.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politic ... battl.html

What a complete FRAUD!!! The cane with gold trimming is a nice touch! How much did that cost the tax payers!

Obama’s auntie still freeloading
By Michael Graham | Thursday, February 4, 2010 |

Here’s another Obama sweetheart deal you won’t see on C-SPAN.

This morning, the fate of Boston’s most infamous illegal immigrant, Zeituni Polly Onyango (also known as “Aunt Zeituniâ€

Convincing a judge that Onyango would face persecution because of her familial relationship with Obama will be hard to prove, Benach said.

Most people who apply for asylum don't receive it because the burden of proof for the feared persecution is that it has at least a 10 percent chance of happening.

How she does this with a straight face is laughable. HELLOOO?? Obama's granny is safe in Kenya and this poser thinks she rates higher than granny?

Send her broke butt home!

Onyango leaves court adorned in a scarf by M K Fashions.

That illegal alien needs to go home. Most people in Kenya don't know about that woman.

As for the mystery man, frankly, those two people look alike so I think it's her brother.

She has a brother running around in the US since the 60's. Wonder if he is also illegal or got amnesty. "Asked why the man believed to be “Uncle Omarâ€

RELATED

Obama aunt testifies at her 2nd asylum hearing (now May 25)

February 4, 2010 at 9:23 a.m.

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-187407.html

"She really wants to stay in America," said her lawyer, Margaret Wong.

There are a lot of people who would like to stay here. That doesn't mean we want them to stay or that they should stay.

Personally, I think she should live with Obama's half brother in his packing crate.