Onyango Asylum Decision: A Case Study in the Abuse of U.S. Political Asylum Policy

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May 17, 2010, 05:31 ET

WASHINGTON, May 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today's decision granting President Obama's aunt, Zeituni Onyango, political asylum provides a case study in how those seeking to evade U.S. immigration laws can manipulate the system, charged the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). FAIR also demanded that the entire record of her case, which was rendered after years of delay and after Ms. Onyango refused to comply with a deportation order, be made public.

A federal immigration court ordered Ms. Onyango to leave the United States in 2004 after it denied her first petition for political asylum. Onyango ignored this order and stayed in the U.S. illegally until her status was revealed in 2008. Despite her defiance of U.S. laws, an immigration court allowed her to remain in the U.S. and file a second asylum petition on new grounds. Moreover, what media outlets have reported to be the grounds for her second asylum claim – illness and political turmoil in her native Kenya – are not legitimate for granting asylum under U.S. law. Nevertheless, today a federal court granted Ms. Onyango asylum.

"Ms. Onyango's case has attracted worldwide attention because she is President Obama's aunt. But what is most noteworthy about her case is that it is an all-too-typical example of how our asylum laws are used to thwart the enforcement U.S. immigration laws," said Dan Stein, president of FAIR. "The system allows people who defy our laws repeated opportunities to offer new reasons to be granted legal permission to remain. Determined illegal aliens and their attorneys understand that tying the system in knots will work to their advantage."

Judge Leonard Shapiro did not reveal the basis for his decision to grant asylum to Ms. Onyango and Ms. Onyango's attorney has declared that his client wants to keep the decision confidential. "Given Onyango's relationship to the president, the American people have a right to know on what grounds Ms. Onyango's asylum was granted," Stein said. "Illness and political turmoil in one's homeland are not recognized as grounds for being granted asylum. Defining asylum so broadly not only exceeds any reasonable interpretation of the law, but would make countless millions of people around the world eligible for asylum in the U.S. Americans deserve to know whether the system worked."

FAIR has repeatedly called for an end to the abuse of policies designed to protect people who legitimately face political persecution in their homelands. "The legal system cannot permit people who have had their day in court, and lost, the opportunity to keep filing new claims before different judges until they finally prevail. The process needs to be fair and transparent, but endless delays designed to prevent compliance with a deportation order undermines our judicial process and invites abuse," Stein concluded.

About FAIR

Founded in 1979, FAIR is the country's largest immigration reform group. With over 250,000 members nationwide, FAIR fights for immigration policies that serve national interests, not special interests. FAIR believes that immigration reform must enhance national security, improve the economy, protect jobs, preserve our environment, and establish a rule of law that is recognized and enforced.

SOURCE FAIR