Federal immigration Judge Leonard I. Shapiro granted Onyango Obama, the uncle of the U.S. President, the permission to stay in the country, The Associated Press reported. The 69-year-old who has been in the U.S. illegally for decades "got a federal court's OK to stay in his adopted country," according to his attorney Margaret Wong.
"I'm relieved. I represented the family for some time and it's really a relief," Wong said. Judge Shapiro allowed Obama, who has been living and working in the U.S. for 50 years, to stay and obtain a green card.
"At the hearing, the judge looked at Onyango Okech Obama's character, reviewing his long-term employment with a grocery store in Framingham, Massachusetts, his tax records and his rent payments, and not that he is not on any government assistance programs," CNN reported.
Onyango Obama, the half-brother of the president's father, was arrested on drunk driving charges, and ordered to regularly check in with immigration servuces, according to Brian Hale, who served as director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
After his arrest, he allegedly told an officer, "I think I will call the White House," according to The Boston Globe. At the time, a federal law enforcement source said that he was not legally in the U.S., and was told previously ordered to be deported. The outstanding deportation order was from 1992.
"America is a land of opportunities, a land of chances," Obama told the judge.
"Asked if he had relatives in the United States, he said he had two nieces; a sister, Zeituni Onyango, who appeared in court Tuesday; and his brother's son, Barack Obama," reported The Boston Globe.
The White House did not respond to requests for comment.
