Obama Says He Didn't Know Aunt's Illegal
StatusThe Illinois senator's aunt has been residing in Boston public
housing since her request for asylum was denied four years ago. CHICAGO -- Barack Obama said Saturday he was unaware that one of his
relatives from Kenya was living in the United States illegally and added that
believes the appropriate laws should be followed.
The Associated Press reported Friday that Obama's aunt had been instructed to
leave the country four years ago by an immigration judge who rejected her
request for asylum from her native Kenya.
The woman, Zeituni Onyango is living in public housing in Boston and is the
half-sister of Obama's late father .
"Senator Obama has no knowledge of her status but obviously believes that any
and all appropriate laws be followed," Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said
in a written statement given to FOX News.
Onyango, 56, referred to as "Aunti Zeituni" in Obama's memoir, was instructed
to leave the United States by a U.S. immigration judge who denied her asylum
request, a person familiar with the matter told the AP late Friday. This person
spoke on condition of anonymity because no one was authorized to discuss
Onyango's case.
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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 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.
Onyango's refusal to leave the country would represent an administrative,
non-criminal violation of U.S. 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 United States.
The AP could not reach Onyango immediately for comment. No one answered the
telephone number listed in her name late Friday. It was unclear why her request
for asylum was rejected in 2004.
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.
Obama Aunt Found Living in Boston Public Housing 
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