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Journalism of Courage
Responding to a report that a Kenyan relative of Barack Obama was living in the US illegally, his campaign said on Saturday that he had no knowledge of her immigration status and that “any and all appropriate laws” should be followed.
The woman, Zeituni Onyango, referred to as Auntie Zeituni in a passage in Obama’s memoir, applied for political asylum in the United States in 2004, but a federal immigration judge rejected her request and instructed her to leave the country, said a Government official with knowledge of the case. Onyango’s legal status was first reported by The Associated Press on Friday.
The disclosure came as the presidential campaign hurtled toward Election Day, and it left Obama answering questions about what he knew of Onyango’s situation.
Some Democrats suggested that the timing of the disclosure could have been politically motivated, and some immigration lawyers said that for Government officials to disclose information about an asylum applicant was unethical or perhaps illegal.
“People are suspicious about stories that surface in the last 72 hours of a national campaign, and I think they’re going to put it in that context,” Obama’s chief strategist, David Axelrod, told reporters on Saturday.
John McCain’s campaign declined to comment, and neither McCain nor his running mate, Governor Sarah Palin, raised the issue on the campaign trail.
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman, Kelly A Nantel, said the agency’s inspector general and office of professional responsibility were looking into whether there was a violation of confidentiality policy.
Onyango, 56, is the half-sister of Obama’s father and is part of an extensive network of paternal relatives with whom Obama has had limited contact, his aides said. Obama, who was largely raised by his maternal grandparents in Honolulu, first met Onyango when he traveled to Africa as an adult.
Onyango attended the ceremony in January 2005 when Obama was sworn in as a senator from Illinois, but campaign officials said he had provided no assistance in getting her a tourist visa and did not know the details of her stay. At the time of the ceremony, Onyango and another relative said in interviews that they had flown to the United States from Kenya to witness the event.
Obama last heard from Onyango about two years ago when she called to say she was in Boston, but he did not see her there, the campaign said.
Federal Election Commission records list a Zeituni Onyango in South Boston as making a series of contributions, totaling $265, to the Obama campaign, with the most recent contribution, $5, made on September 19.
Obama’s campaign said the money was being refunded. It is illegal for foreign citizens and immigrants without green cards to make political donations. Aides said that the donations came through the normal channels and that no one at the campaign knew of Onyango’s immigration status or that she was related to Obama.
