WASHINGTON - After a six-year battle over her legal status in the country, Zeituni Onyango has been allowed to remain in the United States. Judge Leonard Shapiro ruled in her favor last Friday, giving the President’s aunt legal status in the country. Onyango, 57, applied for asylum in 2002 after violent protests arose in her native country, Kenya. The half-sister of the president’s late father, Onyango was a legal resident at that time and had already received a Social Security card earlier that same year.
In 2004, the request Onyango filed for asylum was not approved, yet she continued to remain in the United States as an illegal immigrant. She was ordered to leave U.S. territory after appealing her rejection twice and losing both times. Five years later, in April of 2009, Judge Shapiro agreed to let Onyango remain in the United States while her request for asylum was being evaluated once again.
Last February, the trial came to a head as Onyango appeared in immigration court alongside her representative, Amy Cohn and two of her medical doctors. Onyango used her medical condition as the main reason for remaining in the United States. Her physicians also testified on her behalf.
President Obama chose to remain a neutral party throughout the proceedings. White House officials declared that the president “believes that the case should run its ordinary course.” Margaret Wong, one of Onyango’s immigration lawyers, also confirmed that Obama did not make a formal testament to the court regarding the proceedings.
Onyango’s immigration lawyers held a press conference on Monday afternoon in Ohio to discuss the positive outcome of her appeal.
