ASSOCIATED PRESS: WASHINGTON — The Bush administration quietly withdrew in the weeks after Barack Obama's election a new rule requiring high-level approval before federal agents nationwide could arrest fugitive immigrants. The future for Obama's aunt, who had been living in the country illegally, will be determined at an immigration court hearing in April.
The Homeland Security Department had originally imposed the unusual directive days before Obama's election, an order that would have affected Zeituni Onyango, the half-sister of Obama's late father. She 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 directive from Immigration and Customs Enforcement expressed concerns about "negative media or congressional interest," according to a newly disclosed federal document obtained by The Associated Press. The department lifted the immigration order weeks later, on Nov. 26.
The directive made clear that U.S. officials worried about possible election implications of arresting Onyango, who at the time was living in public housing in Boston. She is now believed to be living in Cleveland.
An immigration judge stayed her deportation order on Dec. 17. The judge reopened her case requesting asylum on Dec. 30, and she has a hearing on April 1 in a Boston immigration court, Elaine Komis, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Executive Office of Immigration Review, said Monday.
Onyango traveled to Washington last week for her nephew's inauguration. News organizations observed her attending an inaugural ball with her immigration lawyer, Margaret Wong. >>> By Ted Bridis and Eileen Sullivan | Tuesday, January 27, 2009
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – USA)
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