AP: Obama aunt from Kenya living in US illegally

[Newsjock]

Source: Associated Press

Barack Obama's aunt, a Kenyan woman who has been quietly living in public housing in Boston, is in the United States illegally after an immigration judge rejected her request for asylum four years ago, The Associated Press has learned.

Zeituni 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.

Information about the deportation case was disclosed and confirmed by two separate sources, one of them a federal law enforcment 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.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/10/31/national/w203225D04.DTL&tsp=1

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Isn't it too late for the October Surprise?

this smells like it

[Newsjock]

3. It smells like *something*

n/t

[FrenchieCat]

4. Why would this affect the election?

A distant relative of Obama should effect the elections, but the Vice President's husband being a member of a sessionist group not?

Oh, yeah...that's right! Obama's has got African Blood running through his veins.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. And there is more

how much do you want to bet that this story will dominate certain quarters, the same quarters that have not covered Todd's affiliation with the Alaska Independence Party (and the fact that this is a no-no since Texas vs US back in 1870)

by the way for lurkers with no clue I mean CNN and oh FOX

[FrenchieCat]

8. If we are this weak, that a story about someone's aunt would lose us

an election, they are smoking weed.

The American people will not hold this against Barack....unless WE, the bloggers, overreact and make it a story of note.

So, perhaps it is up to us not to act like this is something, because clearly, it isn't.

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. Oh fully agreed, it will not fly

401K are now 50Ks... but you asked, I gave an answer

I wonder, if this is a breaking news at oh Drudge....

:-)

On edit, hmm no... I went there so you would not have to

The breaking news is Zogby...

[FrenchieCat]

13. I'm sure. And that is part of our problem isn't it?

We wonder about what Drudge will do....instead of not giving a fuck.

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. Well drudge is part of the RIGHT WING political machine

they can't be ignored. We've tried that before

Now we should laugh at them...

[FrenchieCat]

15. They can't be ignored?

I've been ignoring him this entire season, and I don't recall anything he has said or done that made a difference.

I think it is the weight that some make the mistake of giving him that makes the difference.

Last he was pushing the story about Obama's 1/2 brother in Kenya. I don't recall it making a difference in the election.

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. Lemme see, if he were not quoted by oh MSNBC this morning

you'd be correct

As long as the right wing slime machine is treated like legit news organization...

By the way... David Brock comes to mind, read his books on this... in particular the Right Wing Echo Machine

[FrenchieCat]

20. I don't think they have the same strength as they had......

I think you are giving them much more than they deserve.

Otherwise, we would be losing after all of the shit they have thrown at Barack.

[nadinbrzezinski]

21. You are confusing being aware that they are real and are treated like

a real news organization with actual power

They didn't have much power back in 1992 either... then came the Clinton Years

by the time they were done.. we know the story

I don't intend to remove my eyes from these idiots... and thankfully neither will organizations that understand this

By the way... the fact that MSNBC was quoting him today is a leading edge of how they will get back their strength after the election

"Those who refuse to learn from history..." and all that

[Raschel]

37. Joe the Plumber breaks all kinds of laws and McCain displays him as a role model!

[dhpgetsit]

66. Someone mentioned this to me last night

He thought it would totally change the outcome of the election. I just laughed.

But illegal immigration is his main topic. I think he secretly fears all immigrants, especially when they don't speak good english. He's a perfect target for a Con job.

[FrenchieCat]

2. All we need to know......AP strikes again!

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.....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.

....many experts believe there are more than 10 million such immigrants in the United States.

[jwirr]

5. My brother-in-law has family that came here illegally without his

knowledge. She came to Canada first and then over the border. She is now back in Canada. He has no control over her even though he is related. I also wonder if this story is true.

[Tiggeroshii]

7. wow

talk about shady business...


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.

You know I sneaking suspicion one of those people were involved...

[FrenchieCat]

10. They can't even officially confirm if this is even true.

even though they wrote it as though it was.

[Tiggeroshii]

19. Wouldn't be the first time..

"liberal media" my butt!

:puke:

[struggle4progress]

49. "... a person .. told the AP .. on condition of anonymity ..."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-briefs1-2008nov01,0,5636273.story

[skooooo]

9. too little too late

No one is going to care about this enough to not vote for Obama.

[FrenchieCat]

12. Ooh....Obama is related to someone who MAY be illegal!

Guess I'll go with the warmonger instead! :)

Pfffft!

[4lbs]

16. Is Lou Dobbs going to be airing a two-hour special on this?

:sarcasm:

:eyes:


Looks like the Repubs are getting desperate and scraping up anything they can.

[ben_meyers]

18. I would guess it's from the Bush camp

maybe payback for the 25 year old Bush DWI dumped on Nov. 2nd 2000. Don't think it affected anything, but he seems vindictive.

I can't see this having any effect either.

[glinda]

23. It has an effect on

those few people who will think "oh then, Obama isn't from the US". It is the same crap that they have been doing in regards to his birth certificate, his middle name, etc.... frankly, I think the question that should be posed to the American people is "Do you really want to vote for people who are paranoid, lier's, manipulators, nasty bastards, etc...?" They will only treat you like that after they get elected.

[droidamus2]

60. Logic

I love the rightwing logic that says 'well one of our lies may not be enough to turn you against Obama but when you put them all together they show a pattern'. So the idea is if we bring up his 'birth certificate' and maybe don't outright say it is faked but just say 'it brings up some questions'. Then we do the same with his middle name, associations and now his aunt that this series of 'questions' shows a 'pattern'. Yes it does a pattern of dishonesty, innuendo and outright lying by those running the McCain campaign.

[Mopar151]

73. Jus' like spreadin' tar.

when it dont stick when you try to spread it on, you got to dab it on in spots, till you gets it to stick some.

Wonderful. More proof that the right-wing political theorists need to go back to their day job sealin' driveways.

[AKing]

22. She was hiding in plain sight...This falls more on the lack of enforcement then anything else

[cobalt1999]

24. Illegal immigration is an issue and this will get some air time.

Hopefully, not an issue that sways too many people, but it will factor into the undecideds.

[FrenchieCat]

27. Yeah....let's not vote for our future because of some little old woman......

Brilliant!

[cobalt1999]

30. Hey, people didn't vote for their future because of who'd they rather have a beer with last time.

People don't always vote rationally

[high density]

31. This is the same country that gave Bush 2 terms...

And just earlier this year was obsessing over Obama's pastor. That said, even with three days of Hannity blast on this, I don't see how it has any effect on the voters. Immigration issues have been ignored in this campaign so far, and I don't see how it becomes one now.

[EFerrari]

39. She's 56. Christ.

[lumpy]

65. The "little old woman" is 56 years old. That makes her about

9 years older than Barack Obama.

[wanpete]

35. I don't believe there are many, if any, true undecideds at this point.

there are people who, for whatever reason, do not want to admit who they are voting for.

[JI7]

25. is this the october surprise ?

hahhahah

[glinda]

26. Uh-oh

Here is the deal....will they try to say Obama knew of this and visited her?

[FrenchieCat]

29. uh-oh....my 401K depends on the answer to that question!

[high density]

28. Wow, I'm surprised this isn't from ABC News

It's as worthwhile as the "bin Laden might release a tape!" story. Be afraid everybody of terrorists and immigrants.

[Newsjock]

32. Here's some interesting background: Murdoch's Times of London started this

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/10/31/for_obama_aunt_a_quiet_south_b.html

... William McGonigle, deputy director of the Boston Public Housing Authority, said officials only became aware of Onyango's connection to the Democratic presidential nominee last week, after receiving inquiries from a reporter with the Times of London. Onyango then confirmed the relationship.

... "She is a delightful lady and she did a wonderful job as a public health advocate and she's been a great resident," McGonigle said. "She's not looking for fame or notoriety, and we were as surprised as anyone to learn she was related to the Democratic nominee."

... Since the Times of London published its story on Onyango, reporters began gathering outside the red-brick building, part of the West Broadway public housing development that had recently undergone a $60 million renovation. But Onyango was not there; she was seen leaving her apartment at mid-morning Thursday after she telephoned housing authority officials to request help in keeping reporters at bay.

... Campaign records show Onyango donated at least five times to Obama's campaign, in July and September, three times for $5 and twice for $25. She listed her occupation as "RHA Volunteer/Boston Housing Authority."

[Proud-D]

33. Whats up with the AP lately?

When did the AP start doing hit pieces? This article in and of itself does not worry me. (This seems like something that belongs in the National Enquirer and the fact that its the AP doing it is disturbing to say the least.) What is worrying me about this is the fact that its the AP that announces the exit polls on election day and all the major networks make their projections on who won a particular state based on what the AP puts out. And it pisses me off that privileged information is being leaked by government employees. Its one thing to be a whistle blower but to be a whistle blower there first needs to be corruption to blow the whistle on and second you need to go public with your identity. This government employee knows releasing this info is wrong and is hiding. This is not journalism and the AP is a damn joke now and its a real shame! Who is behind the downfall of the AP?!?!

[FrenchieCat]

34. Fucking Fournier, that's who!

They think we want to live 4 more years of a nightmare!

[McCamy Taylor]

51. AP was doing anti Dem work when John Solomon was there.

I have been treating them as Pravda-GOP for at least two years, along with FOX and CBS.

[corporatemedia]

36. The corporate media will try to make a "mountain out of an aunt hill." n/t

[FVZA_Colonel]

38. Don't Obama and McCain favor some sort of "pathways to citizenship" program?

Given that simple reality, I can't see how this will play with anyone but the xenophobes, who would never have voted for Obama anyway.

[JDwho]

40. All this means is...

the people that weren't going to vote for Obama, still won't for Obama. This will not affect his supporters or make the decision for the undecideds. IMO.

[FVZA_Colonel]

41. As irrational as it is, I just... I just imagine a scenario where a few fools might

begin to think "he has an illegal immigrant relative? Maybe his 'associations' do matter!"


...


I really need to relax.

[radfringe]

58. mccain will lose more votes from

legal immigrants who are now citizens than he will gain by running with the story

meanwhile - this is more guilt by association crap and a very thin association - she's a 1/2 aunt.

mccain has run out of kitchen sinks and now he's throwing toilets

[tgnyc]

44. Undecideds in Arizona, N.M., Colorado might have pause.

Not that that will change the election

[FVZA_Colonel]

45. Given the lead Obama already has in NM and CO, I agree.

I guess... I don't know what I'm afraid of, nothing rational. It could never cause a large enough percentage of undecideds to flip, even though the media will claim that this will have to make "regular joes" (read "white people") suspicious.

[treestar]

63. She's not Mexican

I'm series. To such people, "illegal immigrant" means "Mexican." Such people are voting for McCrap anyway. Not everyone in those states hates the illegal immigrants.

Besides, she's only an immigrant under an order of deportation, not a "terrorist." If Ayers and Wright and Rezko and Rashidi don't stick, Auntie won't.

[lenegal]

42. And magazines are looking into McCain 1964 Accident

There is not much to the story of Barack's aunt. She is his half aunt, so newspapers state. He has helped out the best he can, but help is refused.

But 2 magazines are looking into an auto accident in 1964 when McCain was a Lieutenant in the Navy. There was a fatality in the crash, and he may have been drunk.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

43. My family entered the US illegally a million years ago

to keep somebody from being quarantined or rejected oh way back when.

[shotten99]

46. So what!?

If Obama had helped her into the country, or fought immigration, there would be public record.

[FVZA_Colonel]

Not if he... abused his power!!!

:sarcasm:



Given the timeframe any "influence" would have been used, he would still have been a state-senator, or a Freshman in the Federal Senate. And I don't know how much influence an Illinois State Senator or Junior Federal Senator would have had in Boston.

[FVZA_Colonel]

47. Self-Delete.

Double Post.

[Waiting For Everyman]

48. But the officials talking about it illegally is ok. Sure. I see.

It's supposed to be so terrible that she's here illegally, but then officials of the governement talking about it illegally - oh, that's all different, that's fine, overlook that.

[struggle4progress]

50. Aunt Zeituni in Hub, Obama campaign says (Boston Globe)

... Onyango, who is paid a small stipend for working as a health advocate in her housing complex, has shunned attention. Yesterday morning, she ignored a television camera, saying nothing to several reporters as she walked out of her first-floor apartment, handed a duffle bag to the driver of a taxicab, and was driven off.

For three years, she was a volunteer with Experience Corps, a nonprofit that trains adults over 55 to work with children in public schools, said Mary Gunn, the group's executive director.

In a profile on the Experience Corps website, Onyango is described as a "former computer systems coordinator" who says she wanted to volunteer in the schools because "I felt that I should help the children in my community."

"I love people and enjoy interacting with them," Onyango said. "Also, I was idle, and this was a chance to get involved" ...

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2008/articles/2008/10/31/aunt_zeituni_in_hub_obama_campaign_says/

[McCamy Taylor]

52. This does the GOP no good at all. 56 year old woman is not scary.

Especially when the Bush administration has allowed her to live in the United States and do volunteer work for four years. It makes the Bush administration look like they let just anyone live in the United States. They will have to scramble to explain why she is allowed to roam the streets and other people are locked up and deported and the answer is going to sound like favoritism---"We couldn't send her home. Her nephew is a millionaire Senator" or else it will sound like she was really at risk "How would it have looked if we had sent her home and then Obama's aunt had died?" Everyone saw the violence in Kenya.

I am betting that there is a memo somewhere that says the latter that they are having to scrub.

[williesgirl]

53. She'll have to get her green card once he's elected. They can't send her back

being related to the US President, can they? She was already asking for asylum for God's sake. Talk about making her a target!

[FreeStateDemocrat]

54. Most e-mailed on Yahoo.

[creeksneakers2]

55. How does she get public housing?

The GOP is going to be all over that detail.

[dave29]

69. yeah! Lets drive her to the streets and kick her ass out of the country!

Lou Dobbs would have an orgasm on set

[AngryAmish]

56. Who the fuck do these people think they are?

This is a BLOOD relative of Obama. Of course she gets to be a citizen - citizen, hell, we should buy her a house.

[machI]

57. Here we go again, an 'Anonymous source' who 'spoke on condition of anonymity' is taken as truth

It is hard to read this one, because both candidates suck when it comes to immigration policy. That is probably why is has been such a back burner issue this campaign.

The only thing I can see here is someone is trying poke a stick at Obama. I hope the Obama campaign invokes the philosophy "If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun" and puts a stopper on these tactics right away.

[cascadiance]

59. Perhaps she was hiding from Sarah Palin's preacher and his band of "witch hunters"!

Should have asked for political asylum! :)

[AKing]

61. Just relax...It's not like Barack was hiding her in his basement.

[tgnyc]

62. Uh oh. She donated $260 to his campaign in sub-$200 increments

Yikes. Illegal, and easily spun to look suspect.

[ohio2007]

64. does she get to vote ?

not much of a 'november' suprise

[tgnyc]

68. no, but the illegal contributions are enough if the media wanted to run with this

[FVZA_Colonel]

76. Well, they've been returned.

[wroberts189]

67. sorry ..that dog will not hunt. good luck with that one wingnuts.

[cal04]

70. Josh Marshall: Note too that the story first got leaked

Note too that the story first got leaked to the Times of London, a Murdoch paper with a history of taking planted stories from Republicans for siphoning back into the US media.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/241682.php

[glinda]

71. I encourage anyone who has his satellite services to drop them as we did

[6000eliot]

72. Why is this even a story?

What responsibility does he have for what his aunt does or doesn't do?

[Chulanowa]

74. And my ancestors were Welsh stowaways

I've probably got a few cousins who are sitting in prison for something they totally deserve. Yet i'm sure I wouldn't be held to the, ahem, standard that Barack Obama is. I wonder why?

[chalky]

75. He'll get a two pronged attack on this on: Illegal immigration AND small donations.

"According to Federal Election Commission documents filed by the Obama campaign, Onyango has contributed $260 to Obama over a period of time. Under federal election law, only U.S. citizens or green-card holders are legally permitted to give money to campaigns. Onyango, who listed her employer as the Boston Housing Authority, gave in small increments to the Obama campaign. Her latest contribution was $5 on Sept. 19."

Small donations from illegal immigrants??? That's like blood in the water for the NeoConmen sharks.

[Doctor_J]

77. Finally. The October Surprise

Watch Big Media run with it

[allisonthegreat]

78. Trust me..this is Neo Con crap happens before every election...eom

[allisonthegreat]

79. Trust me..this is Neo Con crap happens before every election...eom