President Obama’s Uncle, Onyango “Omar” Obama, is allowed to stay after a hearing in a U.S. immigration court this afternoon, according to the Boston Globe.
Onyango Obama has lived in the U.S. since the 1960s. He was ordered to leave the U.S. in 1986, 1989, and again 1992, but he disregarded the deportation orders, the Globe reports.
Obama probably would have remained an unknown illegal alien, but he was arrested for drunk driving in Framingham, Mass., on a Wednesday night around 7:00 PM, Aug. 24, 2011 according to MetroWest Daily News. The newspaper reports that Obama “nearly ran his sport utility vehicle into a police car.”
Onyango Obama testified today before immigration Judge Leonard Shapiro, who also granted asylum to Obama’s sister, Zeituni Onyango, in 2010, according to CBS Boston. Zeituni Onyango applied for citizenship in 2002, was rejected and was ordered to leave in 2004, and eventually obtained asylum in 2010, according to CBS Boston.
The White House stated that the immigration case against Onyango Obama would be treated like any other immigration case. “Uncle Omar” retained Cleveland-based immigration attorney Margaret Wong, who was also Zeituni Obama’s immigration lawyer.
During the testimony, the Globe reports that President Obama’s name was invoked several times. The White House, of course, claimed not to be aware Onyango Obama was living illegally in the country. But Onyango asserted that his famous nephew stayed with him in Cambridge for a few weeks before attending Harvard Law School in the late 1980s, the Globe reports.
Onyago denied reports that he said “I think I will call the White House” during his initial booking in Framingham.