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President's Aunt Granted Asylum

By Eric Lipman

President Barack Obama's aunt, Zeituni Onyango, who first made headlines when it was revealed just days before the 2008 election that she was in the U.S. in violation of an order of deportation, has now been granted asylum, and will be allowed to remain in the country. Though the reasons she sought asylum in the first place (in 2000) have not been disclosed, which is in accordance with protocol, one of her attorneys cited the violence in Kenya that seems to rear its head in connection with elections in that country. The conservative blogosphere is predictably huffy about this decision. For example, Instapundit sarcastically suggests that Onyango might be no safer in the U.S. if mainstream media reports about the Tea Party movement are credited, and "Christian American Conservative" Kingsjester speculates that Onyango's "relatives in high places" influenced the immigration judge's decision. In the absence of any details about the application or the hearing held by the judge, Leonard I. Shapiro, it's all speculation, but, of course, immigration judges don't get the Article III perks like lifetime tenure, and I'd sure hate to be the guy on record as booting the President's wheelchair-bound Auntie back to Africa.

Full post as published by Legal Blog Watch on May 18, 2010 (boomark / email).