President Barack Obama’s aunt, who lived for years illegally in South Boston, says in her first interview since being granted asylum that the United States has an “obligation” to grant her citizenship.
Zeituni Onyango tells WBZ-TV that she came to the U.S. from Kenya in 2000 but couldn’t afford to leave when she was originally denied asylum in 2004. She says she fell critically ill and was hospitalized. When she was discharged, she lived in a homeless shelter for two years before being assigned public housing.
She says she never asked for public assistance.
She also says President Obama, whom she referred to as “my child,” never intervened in her immigration case.
Onyango still lives in public housing and collects $700 monthly disability.
Interview Parts 1 and 2:
Video & Text Credit: WBZ-TV http://www.wbztv.com
Video Date: September 20, 2010
September 21, 2010
President Barack Obama's aunt, who lived for years illegally in South Boston, says in her first interview since being granted asylum that the United States has an "obligation" to grant her citizenship.
Zeituni Onyango tells WBZ-TV that she came to the U.S. from Kenya in 2000 but couldn't afford to leave when she was originally denied asylum in 2004. She says she fell critically ill and was hospitalized. When she was discharged, she lived in a homeless shelter for two years before being assigned public housing.
She says she never asked for public assistance.
She also says President Obama, whom she referred to as "my child," never intervened in her immigration case.
Onyango still lives in public housing and collects $700 monthly disability.
August 17, 2010
As the debate rages about illegal immigration, the suspicion that a well-connected immigrant may get special treatment dogs the president.
President Obama's aunt, Zeituni Onyango, has been living in Boston public housing for years despite being turned down for asylum twice during the decade she's been in the U.S. illegally.
We are now learning that the immigration judge who finally gave her asylum earlier this year did so because of what he called the reckless release of information about her by an anonymous Bush administration official.
The judge, a republican appointee, says that violated Onyango's privacy and made her a target in her homeland of Kenya.
So, she gets to stay to get a green card and a Boston public housing apartment.
The White House insists the president had nothing to do with any of it.
Onyango is the half-sister of Obama's late father who died in a car crash in 1982.
The president met Onyango during a trip to Kenya in 1988 and included her in his 1995 memoir, "Dreams from My Father.''
