Feb 04, 2010

Obama not involved in deportation hearing of aunt

03:39 PM
By Josh Reynolds, AP

President Obama has not gotten involved in the immigration hearing of a long-lost Kenyan aunt who faces deportation, officials said today.

"This is a legal issue, and the president strongly believes that the law must be followed by everyone," said spokesman Robert Gibbs.

A U.S. Immigration Court in Boston adjourned today with no decision on the asylum request of Kenya native Zeituni Onyango. She is the half-sister of Obama's deceased father, and moved to the United States in 2000.

Her first asylum request was rejected, and she was ordered deported in 2004, reports the Associated Press. But she didn't leave the country and continued to live in public housing in Boston.

Obama learned about the situation late during the 2008 campaign, Gibbs said,

"We said then and we would continue to say that everybody in this country should and must follow the law," Obama said "We have not been involved at all in that hearing and will let the law play out as it should."

http://content.usatoday.com/communities ... -of-aunt/1