BOSTON, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- Onyango Obama, President Barack Obama's uncle, was granted permission to stay in the United States Tuesday in a Boston court hearing.
Judge Leonard Shapiro made the decision after Onyango Obama, 69, who ignored a 1992 deportation order, testified he has lived in the United States after emigrating from Kenya in 1963, paid income tax and was only arrested once, for drunken driving, WCVB-TV, Boston, reported..
Shapiro cited a law entitling "out of status" immigrants to become permanent residents if they maintain continuous residence and are of good moral character.
Margaret Wong, Obama's attorney, called him a "wonderful old gentleman."
Asking in court if he had a family in the United States, Obama said, "I do have a nephew. Barack Obama, he's the President of the United States."
Some observers expected Obama to testify he thought a return to Kenya would be too dangerous for him, the Boston Herald said Tuesday, but the matter was never brought up in court.
