By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
A leak to the media prompted an immigration judge to grant asylum to President Obama’s aunt Zeituni Onyango who lives in Boston public housing, the Boston Globe reported.
The paper reported that the judge, Leonard I. Shapiro, ruled the asylum was granted because of an anonymous federal official in the Bush administration, who leaked information about her immigration status, and consequently exposed her to potentially more threats in her native Kenya, the Globe reported, citing the court ruling.
Onyango was granted asylum in May, but the reasons why were not released, triggering speculation, particularly among conservative Republicans, that she got favorable treatment because of her relationship with the president. Her two previous requests were rejected.
Immigration Judge Shapiro, a Republican appointee, harshly wrote in his ruling that a Bush administration official leaked the information to the Associated Press, which threw her into the spotlight in a “highly publicized and highly politicized manner’’ days before the November 2008, the Globe reported.
“Moreover,’’ he wrote, according to the Globe, that “the disclosure . . . was a reckless and illegal violation of her right to privacy which has exposed her to great risk.’
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