An Ol' Broad's Ramblings
Where’s Auntie?
Obama says he didn’t know aunt’s illegal status
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 (zay-TUHN on-YANG-oh), is living in public housing in Boston and is the half-sister of Obama’s late father.
Now, I’ll be the first to say it is possible he didn’t know about his aunt’s legal status. I mean, it IS possible, right? Right?? Well, being a U.S. Senator and all, don’t ya think he should have found out? He knew the woman was living here, and was contributing to his campaign, he must have had some inkling.
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.” Traveling 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.”
Does that mean she has to pay the taxpayers back for living in public housing? Isn’t that stealing? And as for that 72 hour business? I would have to say there has been PLENTY of information out there about “THE ONE” that should have sent him back to Illinois with his tale tucked between his legs, but hey….that’s just me.
An adviser to Republican John McCain’s campaign, Mark Salter, said he had no comment on the reports about Obama’s relative. “It’s a family matter,” Salter said.
No, I’m sorry. If this was McCain’s aunt living in the country illegally, it would be front page news, and we DO have a right to know. Family matter? I don’t think so. When you run for the highest off in the country, EVERYTHING is public!
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.
I didn’t think taking contributions from foreigners was legal? Granted, returning it is a good thing, cuz obviously, the woman can’t afford to be coughing up any bucks. So, when is he going to return all the OTHER illegals contributions? You know, from actually foreigners in foreign countries?
Onyango, 56, is part of Obama’s large paternal family, with many related to him by blood whom he never knew growing up.
Yeah, I’ve got a lot of relatives I’ve never met, or even heard of either, but then, I’m not running for public office….not even dog catcher!
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.
Now THAT, I am NOT buying into! I’m dumb, but I ain’t THAT dumb!
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 U.S.
Oh, there are a WHOLE lot more than that! If we started busing/ them out now, at their home countries expense of course, and close the door behind ‘em, we might be finished in a decade or two.
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, 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.
So, this isn’t just a ‘last 72 hour’ thing thought up by McCain supporters, or some right wing nutjob. Sometimes, reality bites, eh?
