Obama uncle seeks permanent residency

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BOSTON, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- Illegal alien Onyango Obama, President Barack Obama's uncle, agreed to a December court date in Boston as he seeks to obtain permanent U.S. resident status.

A Kenyan national who was ordered deported in 1992, Onyango Obama is pinning his hopes on a federal immigration law that allows permanent U.S. residence for illegal aliens who entered the United States before 1972 and have demonstrated "good moral character," the Boston Herald said Thursday, noting Obama was arrested for drunken driving in 2011.

The strategy was revealed in a brief hearing in Boston's immigration court Wednesday before Judge Leonard I. Shapiro, the judge who granted asylum to Zeituni Onyango, Obama's sister, in 2010.

Obama's hearing Wednesday was advanced on the judicial calendar, preceding other immigration cases, but Boston immigration attorney Desmond FitzGerald said it was not a case of preferential treatment but of the simplicity of the case.

"It tells us the case has very clear issues that will not likely take a tremendous amount of time to adjudicate. Very likely the judge will be able to render a decision the day he hears the case."

Obama's next court date is Dec. 3.