Supposedly to avoid a “three-ring circus,” the deportation hearing will be closed to the public. From the Boston Herald today:
The illegal alien aunt of President Obama could learn this week whether she can put down roots in Boston – or start packing her bags for a one-way trip back to Kenya.
And, save for U.S. Immigration Court Judge Leonard I. Shapiro, she’ll know before anyone else. Zeituni Polly Onyango has persuaded Shapiro to bar the public from her removal proceeding Thursday morning at the John F. Kennedy Federal Building, though it’s unclear why.
“I assume (Shapiro) thought it would be a three-ring circus. She’s the aunt of the president of the United States – the most famous man in the world,” said Mike Rogers, spokesman for the Ohio law firm defending Onyango, 57, against the Department of Homeland Security.
Then it is this last paragraph that seems to have generated the most anger among the commenters (there were 125 when last I looked). Most want to know how she has managed to get government housing all the years she lived here illegally.
Onyango, a computer programmer, has been in the country illegally since 2004, when Shapiro ordered her to leave. Recent attempts to reach her at the South Boston housing development where she’s been living since a December 2008 stay of her deportation have been unsuccessful.
I skimmed the comments looking for anyone in support of Onyango and didn’t see any in my quick look. However, I did see this one that made me laugh:
She will remain in the country because she knows where Obama was really born.
If you are new to the Aunt Zeituni saga, use our search function for her name, we have posted on the issue ever since it came up just before the Presidential election in November 2008.