Sure.
When President Obama's Kenyan aunt appears before a U.S. immigration judge in Boston today, she says she will literally be making the case for her life.Umm, from this angle, his credibility is already destroyed. But hey, I'm just some wacko blogger, so my opinion doesn't matter.
Zeituni Onyango, 56, is fighting a 2004 deportation order by seeking asylum in this country – a status granted to those who cannot return home out of fear of being persecuted.
But just what persecution Onyango claims to face and whether a judge will find her fears well-founded is uncertain. Onyango first applied for asylum in 2002 "due to violence in Kenya" but was denied and ordered to leave the country.
Instead of returning home, the woman who helped raise the president's half brothers and sister in Kenya and whom Obama affectionately referred to as "Auntie Zeituni" in his memoir, has remained illegally in Boston, living in subsidized public housing.
Now the case, which first surfaced in October 2008, just before the presidential election, is once again drawing international attention and sparking speculation about whether Obama will intervene on her behalf.
"President Obama must either deport his aunt or destroy his own credibility by showing her favoritism," said William Gheen of the conservative Americans for Legal Immigration PAC.
The White House has insisted that it has no involvement with Onyango's case, leaving it to follow an ordinary course before a federal judge who will apply the rule of law. For her part, Onyango told The Associated Press she has not been in contact with anyone from the White House or been contacted by them.
Onyango did not respond to ABC News' requests for interviews.
"She hasn't been in touch with the president. He can't help her," Mike Rogers, spokesman for Onyango's attorney Margaret Wong, told ABC News.
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