posted
Obama's presidential campaign rocked by revelation his aunt is an illegal immigrant in the U.S.
By Mail On Sunday Reporter Last updated at 9:16 AM on 02nd November 2008
Barack Obama’s poverty-stricken aunt from Kenya has been found living as an illegal immigrant in Boston.
Mr Obama, heavily favoured to win Tuesday’s election and become America’s first black president, said last night that he had no idea that his aunt, Zeituni Onyango, was even in the country.
But records unearthed by the Associated Press news agency show she has been living illegally in the US for at least four years, after her formal request for asylum was turned down in 2004.
Information about the deportation case was disclosed and confirmed by two separate sources, one of them a federal law enforcement official.
The information they made available is known to officials in the federal government, but it has yet to be established whether anyone at a political level in the Bush administration or in the McCain campaign had been involved in its release.
Normally she would have been deported immediately but her case appears to have been lost in bureaucracy.
In a bizarre twist, the agency said the US Immigration Department has decided no action should be taken until after the election.
Mr Obama was born in the United States to a white mother and black Kenyan father, who returned to Africa in the Seventies. After his mother died, Mr Obama was brought up by his white grandparents in Hawaii.
Mrs Onyango, 56, said last night: ‘I can’t talk about it. After the election I can talk.’
The news comes as a new poll showed Obama's lead over Republican rival John McCain dipped slightly to five points with three days left in the race for the White House.
Obama leads McCain by 49 percent to 44 percent among likely voters in the three-day national tracking poll, down from a 7-point advantage on Friday. The telephone poll has a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points. Obama aunt
A police officer sits outside the housing complex in South Boston where Obama's aunt Zeituni Onyango is reported to live
Onyango is not a relative whom Obama has discussed in campaign appearances and, unlike Obama's father and grandmother, is not someone who has been part of the public discussion about his personal life.
A spokeswoman for U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, Kelly Nantel, said the government does not comment on an individual's citizenship status or immigration case.
Onyango's case - coming to light just days before the presidential election - led to an unusual nationwide directive within Immigrations and Customs Enforcement requiring any deportations prior to Tuesday's election to be approved at least at the level of ICE regional directors, the U.S. law enforcement official told the AP.
The unusual directive suggests that the Bush administration is sensitive to the political implications of Onyango's case coming to light so close to the election.
One of the sources acknowledged he was not a supporter of Obama or John McCain and said he has no plans to vote on Tuesday. He said that was not a motive for releasing the information.
Kenya is in eastern Africa between Somalia and Tanzania. The country has been fractured in violence in recent years, including a period of two months of bloodshed after December 2007 that killed 1,500 people.
The disclosure about Onyango came just one day after Obama's presidential campaign confirmed to the Times of London that Onyango, who has lived quietly in public housing in South Boston for five years, was Obama's half aunt on his father's side.
It was not immediately clear how Onyango might have qualified for public housing with a standing deportation order.
posted
His Dad's half-sister is living on welfare in public housing. His own half-brother is living in a shack in Kenya eking out a living on about $1/day. And between 2000 and 2004, Obama's tax returns showed he contributed less than 1% of his income to charity.
He's living comfort eagle while his own family members scrape by. He and the MSM want the world to know how committed he is to the plight of the poor. But why should we believe he cares about dirt poor strangers when he doesn't even care about dirt poor relatives.
Posts: 504 | Registered: Sep 2008
| IP: Logged |
posted
Give us a break, he's met them what, a few times? They didn't raise him, he doesn't know him, his father didn't raise him. Yet he's supposed to track down every relative and help them live in a high lifestyle? Get a grip.
Posts: 173 | Registered: Sep 2008
| IP: Logged |
posted
and.......... NO ONE CARES....both "Camps" said it's a none issue with them. Yes the McCain Camp too!
So don't worry too much about it UT..no one else is
Lighten up and go listen to Sarah and her conversation with Sarkozy..hehehe.. it's good for a laugh.
Posts: 3291 | From: I DO believe in Karma! | Registered: Apr 2002
| IP: Logged |
WASHINGTON – The government is investigating whether any laws were broken in the disclosure that Barack Obama's aunt was living in the country illegally.
Obama's half aunt, who is from Kenya, was ordered to leave the United States years ago after an immigration judge denied her request for asylum, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press late Friday. This person spoke on condition of anonymity because no one was authorized to discuss the case.
The woman, Zeituni Onyango (zay-TUHN on-YANG-oh), is living in public housing in Boston and is the half-sister of Obama's late father.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement asked its inspector general and the Office of Professional Responsibility on Saturday to investigate whether any policies were violated when information about Onyango's case was publicly disclosed, ICE spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said. The Homeland Security Department, which oversees ICE, cannot disclose details about an individual's immigration status..
Information about Onyango's case was disclosed and confirmed by two separate sources, one a federal law enforcement official. The information they made available is known to officials in the federal government, but the AP could not establish whether anyone at a political level in the Bush administration or in the McCain campaign had been involved in its release, just five days before the presidential election. Obama's campaign strategist David Axelrod said people are suspicious about stories that surface so close to an election.
Obama said Saturday he did not know his aunt was living in the United States illegally and believes that laws covering the situation should be followed.
The campaign said it was returning $260 that Onyango had contributed in small increments to Obama's presidential bid over several months. Federal election law prohibits foreigners from making political donations. Onyango listed her employer as the Boston Housing Authority and last gave $5 on Sept. 19.
Onyango, 56, 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 presidential nominee when the boy was 2, and they reunited only once — for a monthlong visit when Obama was 10.The elder Obama lived most of his life in Kenya, where he fathered seven other children with three other wives. He died in a car crash in 1982.
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."
Onyango's refusal to leave the country would represent an administrative, noncriminal violation of immigration law, meaning such cases are handled outside the criminal court system. Estimates vary, but many experts believe there are more than 10 million such immigrants in the U.S.
quote:Originally posted by TheAmericanPatriot: Guys, There Obama people would have a justification if he raped a Nun.
Now that's just a SICK and uncalled for comment! Especially coming from an "educator".
By the way, for being a teacher, your SPELLING and usage of the english language is appalling and pathetic!
Posts: 3291 | From: I DO believe in Karma! | Registered: Apr 2002
| IP: Logged |
-------------------- "Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts." (Sign hanging in Einstein's office at Princeton) Leap and the Net will Appear. Posts: 3891 | From: No good deed goes unpunished. | Registered: May 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
when i was in atlantic city this weekend, we went into the 7-11 for some munchies and there was a cardboard display with racks of pins buttons and bumper stickers. the one half was obama, the other was mccain. all that was left for obama was 3 bumper stickers...on mccains side, nobody had bought ANYTHING. loool
wow cant believe i remembered that, i was drunk. Posts: 2757 | From: YOU CAN ONLY SEE WHAT I CHOOSE TO SHOW, THERE IS SO MUCH MORE YOU JUST DONT KNOW | Registered: Oct 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
So McCain says after winning the election: I tricked you didn't I. Me and George have been buddies 95% percent of the time these past eight years.
Folks, Obama cannot screw up the United States any worse than it is.
Posts: 2118 | From: midwest, USA | Registered: Aug 2007
| IP: Logged |
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Mad]](mad.gif)
![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
![[Confused]](confused.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic