US guidelines call for deporting Onyango Obama

DUI, fugitive status, make case a high priority

Updated: Wednesday, 31 Aug 2011, 8:28 PM EDT
Published : Wednesday, 31 Aug 2011, 6:40 PM EDT

BOSTON (FOX 25 / MyFoxBoston.com) - US immigration authorities’ own guidelines call for treating President Obama’s uncle as a high priority case that should be on track for deportation, FOX Undercover has learned.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement priorities are laid out in an ICE memo issued in March, where people who are a threat to public safety, which includes drunk drivers, are a high priority for removal.

A federal official who doesn’t want to be named tells FOX Undercover that the government ordered Obama’s uncle, Onyango Obama, out of the country in 1992. But he didn’t leave, making him a fugitive, another high priority category for ICE under their most recent guidelines.

Obama was arrested last week in Framingham and charged with drunk driving. He is being held by ICE, which isn’t officially releasing details of his case. The federal agency that oversees the immigration courts also isn’t releasing information, so it’s not clear why he was ordered out of the country in 1992.

Records show that he has had a Massachusetts driver’s license since at least that year. The Mass. Registry of Motor Vehicles says Obama presented a valid social security number to get his license, which suggests he was in this country legally at some point. One common scenario is that immigrants come here legally, obtain a social security number, then stay in the country when their visas expire, which could trigger a deportation order.

Eve if ICE moves to deport Obama now, he could be granted asylum by an immigration judge and get to stay here, which is what happened with the president's aunt in South Boston.

But one expert says Obama is hardly the only illegal immigrant who obtained a driver’s license from the Mass. RMV.

FOX Undercover reported yesterday that, unlike what happens in some other states, the Registry does not check anyone's immigration status when they get a driver's license or renew it.

Because of that, one expert estimates there could be tens of thousands of illegal immigrants with valid Massachusetts licenses, people who were here legally at some point but have since been ordered deported.

“It’s still obviously too easy to get a license in Massachusetts and that license is a gateway to so many other benefits in oru society. If he can do it than lots of other people who are even more dangerous than a drunk driver can get that license and that ability to live here,-- hiding in plain sight,â€