Obama's Uncle Arrested for Drunk Driving; Faces Deportation
President Barack Obama’s uncle was arrested on drunk driving charges after he made a rolling stop through a stop sign – narrowly missing collision with a police cruiser on August 24.
Police Officials arrested Onyango Obama last week in Framingham, Massachusetts, about 20 miles west of Boston.
The 67-year-old, who is the half-brother of President Obama’s late father, told officers that the White House would arrange his bail.
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“I think I will call the White House,” he stated, according to the police report.
Obama pleaded guilty on Friday and was being held without bail on a detainer from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE said in a court document that the Kenya native had an earlier deportation order.
ICE issues an immigration detainer in an effort to help identify people in police custody or prison that could be deported. It is a request to another law enforcement agency to alert Immigration and Customs Enforcement before the person is released from jail so that ICE can arrange to take over custody.
The Associated Press reported that the White House had no comment on the arrest and a spokesman for ICE also declined to comment on Obama’s immigration case.
Obama was charged with negligent operation of a motor vehicle, operating under the influence of alcohol, and failure to yield right of way.
Framingham police reported Obama was arrested Wednesday after failing to come to a complete stop at a stop sign and causing an officer to quickly hit his brakes to avoid colliding with Obama’s sport utility vehicle.
Obama slurred his speech and became argumentative after he was informed that he was pulled over for failure to fully stop and yield to traffic Officer Val Krishtal said in a written report.
"I explained to him that I narrowly avoided striking his vehicle, and he told me that he did not hear my tires screeching so I was not being accurate," said Krishtal.
According to the report, Obama failed several sobriety tests and blew a reading of 0.14 percent on a blood-alcohol breath test. Massachusetts' legal driving limit is 0.08 percent.
AP reported that Michael Rogers, a spokesman for Cleveland immigration attorney Margaret Wong, said Wong would represent Obama. Rogers also confirmed that the Kenya native is the half-brother of president’s father and is also the brother of Zeituni Onyango, President Obama’s aunt who lives in Boston.
Onyango made headlines in 2010 when she won to right to remain in the U.S. after a previous deportation order. She came from Kenya in 2000 and was denied asylum by an immigration judge in 2004.
Onyango stayed in the country illegally and was granted asylum last year after a judge ruled that she could be targeted in Kenya not only by those who opposed the United States and President Obama, but also for members of the Kenyan government.
