Thread: US says rule lifted limiting immigration arrests (In Nov.)

US says rule lifted limiting immigration arrests

By TED BRIDIS and EILEEN SULLIVAN, The Associated Press 12:06 p.m. January 26, 2009

WASHINGTON — The Homeland Security Department reversed itself Monday, saying that weeks after the presidential election it lifted a new rule requiring high-level approval before federal agents nationwide could arrest fugitive immigrants.

The Bush administration had imposed the unusual directive days before the election of Barack Obama, whose aunt was living in the United States illegally.

The directive expressed concerns about "negative media or congressional interest," according to a newly disclosed federal document obtained by The Associated Press.

The unusual directive from Immigration and Customs Enforcement made clear that U.S. officials worried about possible election implications of arresting Zeituni Onyango, the half-sister of Obama's late father, who at the time was living in public housing in Boston. She is now believed to be living in Cleveland.

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.

A copy of the directive, "Fugitive Case File Vetting Prior to Arrest," was released to the AP just over two months after it was requested under the Freedom of Information Act. It does not mention President Obama or any members of his extended family.

The directive originally was distributed Oct. 31 by e-mail to immigration officers by an assistant director at the agency. Obama was elected president five days later. Nantel said the directive called for close supervision over any cases that could be high profile. She said it was not specific to Obama's relatives.

The White House said late Sunday that the Obama administration wasn't briefed on why the directive was issued. It said Obama "has not contacted any government agency regarding Ms. Onyango's case, nor has any representative of the president."

Obama's aunt was instructed to leave the country four years ago by an immigration judge who rejected her request for asylum from her native Kenya. The East African nation has been fractured by violence in recent years, including a period of two months of bloodshed after December 2007 that killed 1,500 people.

Despite the deportation order, Onyango traveled to Washington last week for her nephew's inauguration. News organizations observed her attending an inaugural ball at Washington's Renaissance Mayflower Hotel, a historic luxury hotel, with her immigration lawyer, Margaret Wong.

The AP was first to disclose Onyango's illegal status Oct. 31, hours after the Homeland Security directive was issued.

Obama has said he didn't know his aunt was living in the United States illegally and believes that laws covering the situation should be followed.

The White House said late Sunday that Onyango's lawyer contacted Obama's lawyer to confirm Wong's role in the case.

"They agreed at the time that the case should proceed in the ordinary course, with neither the president nor his representatives having any involvement," the White House said.

Onyango, 56, has said she intends to fight the deportation order and hopes to remain in the United States. ICE has since said it is investigating whether any laws or rules were broken in the disclosure about Obama's aunt.

Mike Rogers, a spokesman for Onyango's immigration lawyer, said late Friday that Onyango remains in the country and her case is proceeding through the legal system. He did not know where in the U.S. she was or what court was handling her case.

The government's Oct. 31 directive was "effective immediately and until further notice," and required that immigration agents obtain approval from ICE field office directors or deputy directors before arresting fugitives. An approval would depend on an internal review that would consider, among other issues, "any potential for negative media or congressional interest."

"A hold on any actions to proceed with arrest will be placed in the case file until I can review the case and evaluate the impact of the potential media or congressional interest," wrote the assistant field operations director for immigrant detention and removal.

Nantel said there was never any direction that officials should not take action on an enforcement issue. It clarified that potentially high-profile cases needed to be coordinated with the agency's senior officials.

The Homeland Security Department censored parts of the document before turning it over to the AP, citing privacy and law enforcement reasons for withholding some of the information, including the name of the person who sent the e-mail. It also blacked out the names of recipients of the directive, making it impossible to determine whether it was sent to anyone outside the department or outside government.

Onyango is part of Obama's large paternal family, with many related to him by blood whom he never knew growing up.

Obama's father, Barack Obama Sr., left the future president when the boy was 2, and they reunited only once – for a monthlong visit when he was 10. The elder Obama lived most of his life in Kenya, where he fathered seven other children with three wives. He died in a car crash in 1982.

President Obama was raised for the most part by his mother and her parents in Hawaii. He first met his father's side of the family when he traveled to Africa 20 years ago. He referred to Onyango as "Auntie Zeituni" when describing the trip in his memoir, saying she was "a proud woman."
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Associated Press writer JoAnne Viviano in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this story.
(This version CORRECTS Corrects with new Homeland Security statement Monday that immigration rule was lifted after election

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/ ... ndex=43084

"The directive was lifted at the end of November"

Onyango, 56, has said she intends to fight the deportation order and hopes to remain in the United States. ICE has since said it is investigating whether any laws or rules were broken in the disclosure about Obama's aunt.

She's already had her day in court & defied her deportation order, making herself a fugitive. NO leniency, NO second chances. Find her and deport her NOW!

Thanks, GWB! Another fine upstanding decision that protects the American citizen and our Constitution.
The most hilarious I have read was from The Onion, where government agencies subject to the Freedom of Information Act suddenly realized they had been using the wrong color of hi-lighter on documents.

The directive expressed concerns about "negative media or congressional interest," according to a newly disclosed federal document obtained by The Associated Press




This really makes one wonder if "auntie" was the ONLY one in obama's family that might generate negative congressional and media interest prior to the inauguration.

Seems to me there's still that little matter of obama's own citizenship which has yet to be cleared up

If this doesnt burn your backside something is wrong with you ..

Preferential treatment to family members because of family ties

Whodathunkit ... whats next, more welfare and HUD housing to pay for these criminal events

Originally Posted by azwreath

[b]

Seems to me there's still that little matter of obama's own citizenship which has yet to be cleared up

Ahh that wee matter, forget it, it is only the constitution they are shredding. We haven't used it in ages.

Supreme Court justices will discuss challenge to Obama's citizenship Friday

Though it writes that the legal action has "little chance of succeeding," the Chicago Tribune notes that Supreme Court justices will sit down tomorrow to "take up a lawsuit challenging President-elect Barack Obama's U.S. citizenship."

At issue is the contention of some Obama opponents that he either wasn't born a U.S. citizen or that at one point as a child he gave up his citizenship. The arguments have been dismissed by lower courts and well as by Obama and his aides.

The nonpartisan FactCheck.org reported earlier this year that its researchers "have now seen, touched, examined and photographed the original birth certificate. We conclude that it meets all of the requirements from the State Department for proving U.S. citizenship."

Another nonpartisan fact-checking outfit, PolitiFact.com, reached the same conclusion.

Justice Clarence Thomas submitted the case, Donofrio v. Wells, for the court's consideration.

Posted by Mark Memmott at 01:58 PM/ET, December 04, 2008 in Election law

USA TODAY Online

http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

Supreme Court justices will discuss challenge to Obama's citizenship Friday

Though it writes that the legal action has "little chance of succeeding," the Chicago Tribune notes that Supreme Court justices will sit down tomorrow to "take up a lawsuit challenging President-elect Barack Obama's U.S. citizenship."

At issue is the contention of some Obama opponents that he either wasn't born a U.S. citizen or that at one point as a child he gave up his citizenship. The arguments have been dismissed by lower courts and well as by Obama and his aides.

The nonpartisan FactCheck.org reported earlier this year that its researchers "have now seen, touched, examined and photographed the original birth certificate. We conclude that it meets all of the requirements from the State Department for proving U.S. citizenship."

Another nonpartisan fact-checking outfit, PolitiFact.com, reached the same conclusion.

Justice Clarence Thomas submitted the case, Donofrio v. Wells, for the court's consideration.

Posted by Mark Memmott at 01:58 PM/ET, December 04, 2008 in Election law

USA TODAY Online

http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/

IF Factcheck were truly impartial, I would be ok with this. They never even claim to be, just nonpartisan. Obama had been on the board of the Annenberg project. The Annenberg project was owned by the Annenberg foundation. The Annenberg Foundation owns factcheck.org. Not an unbiased source. And if there is nothing unusual about this cert, why has obama spent more than a million dollars making sure that no truly impartial party gets to see it?

Why are his educational records sealed? I don't know how old you are, but I am taking a guess you are old enough to remember the 2000 campaign. One of the media tangents on that campaign was comparing who did worse in school, Bush or Gore, neither one did very well as I recall. Their records were open. We all read about how Clinton actually got a "D" once and how Reagan was thought to be retarded as a boy until someone figured out he couldn't see. Yet Obama has had his record sealed. It could not be for bad grades, there were those who came before him that I am sure did worse, so just what is he hiding?

I don't know whether or not he is a citizen or natural born citizen. That in itself is a problem. WE THE PEOPLE should know. In the case the supremes refused to look at Friday, one of the plaintiffs is a blood relative of Obamas. This person allegedly has pictures of Ann and Obama in the hospital where he was born. This person says it will prove it was not in Hawaii. No judge will take a look because of standing. When "standing" a term not mentioned in law but made up by lawyers to unclog the courts, carries more weight than the constitution and/or the truth, we are lost.

"Another nonpartisan fact-checking outfit, PolitiFact.com, reached the same conclusion."
Why would anyone think that they have a right to see anyone else's report cards? If you wanted to see my report cards I'd tell you to take a hike because they are none of your business.