Does THIS story involving Barack Obama make you think twice about voting for him?

By Eileen Sullivan And Elliot Spagat, The Associated Press





WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama said Saturday he didn't know his aunt was living in the United States illegally and believes that laws covering the situation should be followed.



The Associated Press found that Obama's aunt 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 woman, Zeituni Onyango is living in public housing in Boston and is the half-sister of Obama's late father.



A statement given to The AP by Obama's campaign said: Senator Obama has no knowledge of her status but obviously believes that any and all appropriate laws be followed. Travelling with Obama in Nevada, campaign strategist David Axelrod declined to elaborate on the statement, but said: I think people are suspicious about stories that surface in the last 72 hours of a national campaign.



The campaign said it was returning $260 that Onyango had contributed in small increments to Obama's presidential bid over several months. Federal election law prohibits foreigners from making political donations. Onyango listed her employer as the Boston Housing Authority and last gave $5 on Sept. 19.



Onyango, 56, is part of Obama's large paternal family, with many related to him by blood whom he never knew growing up.



Obama's father, Barack Obama Sr., left the future presidential nominee when the boy was just two, and they reunited only once - for a monthlong visit when Obama was 10. The elder Obama lived most of his life in Kenya, where he fathered seven other children with three other wives. He died in a car crash in 1982.



Obama was raised for the most part by his mother and her parents in Hawaii. He first met his father's side of the family when he travelled to Africa 20 years ago. He referred to Onyango as Auntie Zeituni when describing the trip in his memoir, saying she was a proud woman.



Obama's campaign said he had seen her a few times since that meeting, beginning with a return trip to Kenya with his future wife, Michelle, in 1992. Onyango visited the family in Chicago on a tourist visa at Obama's invitation about nine years ago, the campaign said, stopping to visit friends on the East Coast before returning to Kenya.



She attended Obama's swearing-in to the U.S. Senate in 2004, but campaign officials said Obama provided no assistance in getting her a tourist visa and doesn't know the details of her stay. The campaign said he last heard from her about two years ago when she called saying she was in Boston, but he did not see her there.



Onyango's refusal to leave the country would represent an administrative, noncriminal violation of 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 country.



The AP could not immediately reach Onyango for comment. When a reporter went to her home Friday night, no one answered the door. A neighbour said she was often not home on weekends. Onyango did not immediately return telephone and written messages left at her home.



Onyango was instructed to leave the country by a U.S. immigration judge who denied her asylum request, a person familiar with the matter said. This person spoke on condition of anonymity because no one was authorized to discuss Onyango's case.



It was unclear why her request was rejected in 2004. A spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Kelly Nantel, said the government does not comment on an individual's citizenship status or immigration case.



Information about the deportation case was disclosed and confirmed by two separate sources, one a federal law enforcement official. The information they made available is known to officials in the federal government.



Onyango's case led to an unusual countrywide directive within Immigrations and Customs Enforcement requiring that any deportations before Tuesday's election be approved at least at the level of the agency's regional directors, the U.S. law enforcement official said.



The directive suggests that the administration is sensitive to the political implications of Onyango's case coming to light so close to the election.



Kenya has been fractured by violence in recent years, including a period of two months of bloodshed after December 2007 that killed 1,500 people.



In Boston, Lydia Agro, communications director for the Housing Authority, said Onyango had been screened and approved for public housing as an eligible non-citizen when she moved in in 2003. She said the authority is not notified of deportation orders and did not know Onyango was related to Obama until two days ago.Does THIS story involving Barack Obama make you think twice about voting for him?
For the first 20 or so years of my life, I met at least one new relative every year that I never knew existed before. And all of my relatives were born in the USA.



It's completely conceivable that Obama has NEVER met several members of his father's family from Kenya. I wouldn't take responsibility for any of my cousin's actions ... I simply don't know them. I don't see why Obama would be responsible for his father's family. It's not like he invited her to stay at the white house.
Are the responses above as old as the question...



You kind of lost me at....



"Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama"Does THIS story involving Barack Obama make you think twice about voting for him?
Obambo is a fraud
Why am I not surprised?Does THIS story involving Barack Obama make you think twice about voting for him?
no, I wouldn't base my vote on this story one way or the other.
And I am sure that Obama didn't know his half brother was living in a cardboard box in Kenya either.



Anyone that has no money will contact a close relative if they know that they have money, just the same way that those on welfare keep voting to give themselves a raise and then complain when a CEO gets a raise. For them it is TAX that rich guy so I can get more money.



I can not even count the number of times that Obama has been confronted on issues and his answer was to either blame Bush or state that he did not know. Seems to me,this bastard doesn't know much.
I'd never vote for that fraud anyway
No - the actions of a relative he barely knew would not impact my vote in the least (and in fact I did know about this when I voted for him).

What is interesting is how you omit to include that his aunt has since been granted asylum and is living here legally now.
Its becoming very obvious to all with any common sens at all that 0bama is nothing more then a fraud and the instrument of those that helped put him into to office to carry out their bidding. Now its up to the American People to come to the realization that 0bama's only mission while President of the United States is to destroy the United States from within. And if allowed, that's exactly what 0bama will do, destroy the United States.