Federal immigration judge Leonard I. Shapiro granted the right to remain in the United States to Onyango "Omar" Obama, the half-brother of President Barack Obama's late father, on Tuesday afternoon in Boston. The judge ruled that Onyango, who came to the United States from Kenya some 50 years ago at the age of 19 to attend a prestigious boarding school in Boston but never graduated and has lived in the US illegally for decades, can now receive a "green card" awarding permanent resident status and apply for citizenship in five years, according to the Boston Globe. The president's uncle made headlines in August 2011 after he was arrested for drunk driving and allegedly told officers, "I think I will call the White House."
Shapiro said at the hearing that Onyango Obama had displayed "good moral character" and was a "kind and decent" person, and reviewed his long-term employment with a grocery and liquor store in Framingham, Massachusetts in addition to his tax records and rent payments. He also took into account a facet of US immigration law which allows people who are "out of status" but got to the country before January 1972, maintained continuous residence there and are of good moral character to apply for permanent residency.
During his hour-long hearing on Tuesday, Obama named two nieces and a sister when asked by the judge about any family he may have in the United States. "I do have a nephew," he added, according to the New York Daily News. "Barack Obama, he's the president of the United States." Obama testified that he had not been back to his native Kenya since arriving in 1963 and told Shapiro, "America is a land of opportunities, a land of chances."
After his August 2011 arrest, Onyango Obama was required by authorities with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement to regularly check in. That case was dismissed after he served a year's probation and incurred other penalties in addition to admitting the prosecution had "sufficient facts" to find him guilty - though he never plead guilty. On Tuesday, he expressed remorse for the arrest, saying it had been a mistake to drink three beers and then leave the house to buy milk. He added that his record was otherwise clean and that he usually worked six days a week at the liquor store he manages, saying that he rarely drinks and has volunteered in his community, raising money to aid fellow Kenyan immigrants.
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