Obama's Aunt Gets Asylum

Obama's aunt, who was ordered to be deported by a judge in 2004, has finally won asylum.

"The asylum process is confidential and she wants to keep it that way," her attorney Scott Bratton told the Associated Press today. "She doesn't want people to feel sorry for her."

So don't expect to find out too much about the decision. We do know that she beat the odds:

Of the 343 applications from Kenya in 2008, only 60 were granted asylum.

The case does show how spottily we enforce our immigration laws. She was ordered out by a judge.

Instead she simply stayed.
Now that choice has paid.

It's not that we don't deport anyone. We do. One government estimate I see for 2008 is 234,000 deportees. Of course, some of those return. I'm not sure how the government handles the counting of the repeat customers.

I imagine Obama's aunt had better legal help this time around. Obama says he didn't help her. But I bet someone somewhere decided that she was deserving of support.

High profile cases
win benefactors' graces.