On Tuesday, a federal immigration judge said that the uncle of President Obama could remain in the U.S., which spared him deportation back to Kenya, his homeland. The case has riveted much attention on the man who lived in the country for 50 years without authorities knowing he was illegal most of the time.
Leonard Shapiro an immigration judge in Boston said that Onyango Obama, known as Omar, could apply for his green card and in 2019 for U.S. citizenship, unless Homeland Security makes an appeal within 30 days.
Controversy was at the center of this case because Omar was arrested back in 2011 for driving under the influence and found to have an order for deportation since 1992.
However, Shapiro said that President Obama’s uncle could receive a green card under the immigration law since he arrived prior to 1972 in the U.S. and displayed a good moral character. Judge Shapiro said the man paid his taxes, was kind and decent and volunteered for community work
Obama, during his testimony, begged Shapiro to give him an opportunity to stay. He said he did not know anything about Kenya, as he had left home when he was 19 to come to the U.S.
Obama also mentioned the name of his famous nephew during his hearing, which took over an hour to complete. Asked if there were any relatives living in the U.S., he said two nieces and a nephew named Barack Obama. He slowly said his nephew was the President of the United States.
Last year, the White House announced that Obama did not know his uncle and the two had never met, but his uncle said on Tuesday while testifying that President Obama had stayed with him for three weeks in Cambridge when he came to go to Harvard Law School during the 1980s.
Numerous requests were made, but the White House would not respond to any.
Obama works at Conti Liquors in Framingham.
