Thread: I.C.E. told not to arrest Zeituni Onyango (Obama's Aunt)

Immigration and Customs Enforcement told not to arrest Zeituni Onyango, Updated: Onyango given stay

32 comments
January 28, 2:38 PM
by John Zorabedian, Boston Top News Examiner

President Barack Obama's aunt Zeituni Onyango, the half-sister of Obama's late Kenyan father, remains in the United States despite a judge's refusal to grant her asylum in 2004, and attended an inaugural ball in Washington, DC the night Obama was officially sworn in, the Associated Press reported. An unusual directive from the US immigration agency may have been put in place to prevent her arrest just before the presidential election on November 4, 2008.

Just days before the election, word leaked out to the news media that Onyango was living in public housing in Boston despite an order for her deportation in 2004. Onyango has since left Boston and is fighting her deportation, according to the AP. News organizations observed her attending an inaugural ball at Washington's Renaissance Mayflower Hotel with her immigration lawyer, Margaret Wong.

The directive from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, which was obtained last week by the AP in a Freedom of Information Act request, was e-mailed to ICE agents on Oct. 31 and expressed concerns about "negative media or congressional interest" and ordered ICE agents to seek approval before making arrests. Now a spokeswoman for the ICE, Kelly Nantel, has told the AP that the directive was reversed weeks after the election. From the AP:

The directive was lifted at the end of November, after Obama's win, ICE spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said Monday. Nantel previously had told the AP the directive was still in place, and the White House told the AP late Sunday that Obama would consider whether to overturn it. Nantel said she had been under the impression the directive was still in effect.
Nantel also told the AP that the directive was intended for any high-profile cases, and was not specific to Obama's family. The Obama administration commented that the president "has not contacted any government agency regarding Ms. Onyango's case, nor has any representative of the president."

However, the timing of the directive and its subsequent reversal raises the question of whether it was issued to prevent Onyango's arrest in order to protect the agency from the appearance of interfering with the election.

Update: Zeituni Onyango was granted a stay in her deportation case by a judge in Cleveland, where she now lives, allowing her to stay in the country while her case is decided, according to NewsNet5, a broadcaster in Cleveland. A hearing is scheduled for April 1.

http://www.examiner.com/x-2398-Boston-T ... eportation

Well I don't see ICE arresting anybody these days and it looks to me like Pro illegal groups have already gotten the raids stopped....see any in the news lately!!! NO

The Obama administration commented that the president "has not contacted any government agency regarding Ms. Onyango's case, nor has any representative of the president."

Right, the party jumped in and cleaned up the mess.

allowing her to stay in the country while her case is decided

Her case has already been decided. If she didn't like that decision, she should have appealed it and I'm sure the statute of limitations is up on the 2004 case. From what I understand, she had 33 days to appeal the immigration judge's decision to the Board of Immigration Appeals in Washington, D.C and if she didn't file an appeal, it's too late and should be deemed untimely filed.

You don't get do overs, when you don't get what you want. Nothing has changed and she still doesn't need asylum. I'm sure they are going to argue that she really needs it now that her nephew is the president.

I'm pissed. That woman should have been on a fast plane back to where she belongs.

Dixie