Yes, she's a nutjob.

At the same time, what kind of asshole doesn't help his relatives? Who lets their aunt go on public assistance when they have the financial means to help her? Especially someone with lots of lawyer friends, what, he doesn't have a buddy who is an immigration lawyer who could help her up? Did he sponsor her? Who doesn't sponsor their relatives?

I'm not saying she should get preferential treatment due to her family connections, but shouldn't her family give her, well, NORMAL treatment?

Will somebody please explain how an officially deported person can receive public assistance? What insanity is this?

I want to see Obama do the right thing: deport his Aunt.

He should have helped her when she ran into problems years ago. Now she is a law-breaker, and he has sworn to uphold the laws of the land.

Problem is if he deports his aunt, he will be internationally known as the asshole who deported his aunt. Which won't help him govern.

He needed to address this when she -got- here. For now he should figure something out, either get her re-established back home (with his personal funds), or get her a lawyer and encourage her to go through the proper channels. But he can't be seen as the guy who screwed over his aunt.

I don't think he can keep ignoring this.

That's pretty messed up that some American-born citizens have to go without the disability they paid into for many years so that this lady can get it. My boyfriend's mother has tried twice to get disability for ongoing problems with her feet and legs and has been denied twice, being told she has to go without working for 3 years before she qualifies. Really, how can one not work for 3 years and support themselves? Who the hell designed this system, anyway?

I don't care WHAT people think about him deporting her, he has no other choice but to do that, or be impeached for not upholding his sworn duty. And that bitch is some piece of work.

I think we can all agree that she's a piece of work.

But does the president usually get personally involved with deporting illegal immigrants?

Ohhh! The classic let me turn this around on you. It's not really my fault. It's your fault. And I'm the victim. This has been around for centuries and people still fall for it whether it's in personal relationships or people versus government relationships.

When it's HIS Aunt, who he knows is illegal? yes, I'd say he has a duty there.

this is where you have to do the RIGHT thing. She has to leave the country, and then he has to sponser her to come back into the country as a legal immigrant, etc, etc...

And then how this all works will be on display.

But, given the past record, I'm guessing someone will be paid off to go away. She could probably live like a queen back in Africa for what it's costing here... and he pay for it out of petty cash.

>>Will somebody please explain how an officially deported person can receive public assistance?

If you read the full article, a judge ruled in May that she can stay in the US. Actually, that first article kinda sucked. The more informative one is the second link Amy posted.

It's depressing, actually. The government basically helped her break laws and walk all over the American public. She's unrepentant about her life, but what's more worrying is how our government just kinda gave her everything. It sounds like she didn't even have to fight for public assistance or disability, from the article. We just handed it to her. Yuck.

"She could probably live like a queen back in Africa for what it's costing here"

Indeed. Per capita income in Kenya is $ 900 a year, and public housing is a mud hut next to the communal latrine.

Jessica, about getting disability status. I'm hoping 3rd hand info is better than none:

Our neighbor's adult son had to have one of his legs amputated and then applied for disability. The application requires that a doctor make a statement in support of disability status.

A doctor who had experience with this told the family that it always takes 3 tries minimum to be granted disability. The son had just been rejected the second time when I last talked with them, right before we moved. That rejection focused on something in the doctor's statement and nothing about requiring 3 years. I do not know what excuse was presented for the first rejection.

At any rate, you might want to encourage your boyfriend's mom to keep trying. Best of luck to her.

Thanks, Alicia, I'm not sure if she's aware of this or not. All I know is this lady has worked her fingers to the bone to raise 3 kids after her husband died and deserves the help. I understand it puts Obama in a pickle, morally, but I can also understand Americans being frustrated with a president who plays favorites. It's also not reflecting on him very well seeing as how most Americans can't take care of themselves due to unemployment and high cost of living, but she gets a free roof and the only thing she has to do to earn her money is walk to the mailbox once a month. It would be interesting to know whether or not she also collects food stamps and assistance with public transportation. Does anyone know if you can collect Medicare/Medicaid as an immigrant? I guess she's not really considered an illegal immigrant if a judge ruled she can stay, but if she hasn't paid into the system, she shouldn't get to collect, in my opinion.

As I make the slow move from flaming liberal to ventual conservative, solidly stuck in the middle of the road, I take a pretty hard stance on ALL illegal aliens. Not "undocumented individuals" - illegal aliens. Anyhoo, wish I could do justice to someone's eloquent quote - vis-s-vis our friends from the south - about what a generous country we are. Somthing to th effect of, if you knock at my front door and tell me you're on hard times, I may invite you in and feed you, and give you a warm place to sleep for the night. But of you break into my back window in the middle of the night, I'd be crazy to treat you that way.

or get her a lawyer and encourage her to go through the proper channels.

For fu**'s sake -- he is a lawyer. Why couldn't he take the time to represent her himself?

Or find a reciprocal lawyer agreement to represent her.

Ass far as SSI - two denials -- hore a lawyer, and let them take a 1/3 of the upfront payment. You get SSI.

Jim, is Obama an immigration lawyer? I thought he was a Civil Rights lawyer. I'm sure he could have hired an immigration lawyer to hook her up. She apparently has one now, but why didn't he help her out in 2002 when she came? Especially if their was violence in the region?

Honestly, though, this should have been dealt with a long, long time ago before he became President.

Teflon, if someone knocks on the door odds are we DON'T invite them in. The immigration process is incredibly onerous. My husband was in the states 15 years, did his undergrad, grad, post-doc, and worked, and married me, and still didn't have a greencard. It's a very tedious process, even with a bunch of professionals working for you, and you are on legal visas the whole time. Though, it works out in our favor because we moved, and if he had become a citizen we'd both have to pay taxes in two countries. But maybe we wouldn't have moved if he'd been a citizen.

Which is not to say Obama's aunt should become a citizen. I'm not for giving people who come here illegally citizenship.

At this point, as SwissArmy said, he should help her leave, and set her up with a stipend back home out of his own personal finances, and help her come back through legal channels. Ain't gonna happen, though.

SwissArmy, why the name? Are you in the Swiss Army? We have a training camp in our village...

DO you have to be denied 3 times, or can one speed things up by simply getting a lawyer to start? My MIL has a really nasty back. Surgeries, the works. She'll be on pain meds for life. I may look into disability for her.

Damn, this woman sounds mentally ill! Her entitlement speech reminds me of people with personality disorders. I am possibly experiencing confirmation bias, as I was raised by one, and could hear him saying Obama's aunt's exact words in my head. Ugh. So many families have one-- someone you'd LOVE to disown, only they cause so much trouble and just won't go away, and then YOU'RE the asshole if you don't figure out something to do with them. Or, god help us, their kids, whose really need protecting from them!

Unfortunately, Melissa, there are a lot of people from other countries that feel the US (or insert random Western country here) owes them citizenship... although they would not feel that their country owed an American (or other Westerner) citizenship if someone wanted to immigrate there. It's a weird double standard, but strangely pervasive.

NicoleK, not only does she have a lawyer, she's got one of the top lawyers! (From the second link):

"Onyango hired a top immigration lawyer from Cleveland to help fight her case. We asked how she afforded that lawyer, when she claimed poverty.

""When you believe in Jesus Christ and almighty God, my help comes from heaven,"" she responded. "

So yeah, he's most likely doing his little bit to help her on the sly. He's just not doing it publicly, probably to protect himself from any political fallout.

I'm sorry, but what part of the word ILLEGAL is unclear here?

Put her on a plane. NOW.

heh, NicoleK, nothing as cool as that... I just always have a SA knife on my belt, and am a jack-of-all-trades kind of person...to the point that people often just hand me things to fix. My friends call me that, and it kinda stuck.

momof4, good question. I did not think to ask about a lawyer, but it might help.