Obama uncle in Mass. wins new deportation hearing

President Barack Obama speaks on stage as he accepts the nomination for president during the final day of the Democratic National Convention at Time Warner Cable Arena on September 6, 2012 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Photographer: Alex Wong/Getty Images

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Posted: 12/04/2012

By: RODRIQUE NGOWI, Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) - President Barack Obama's uncle in Massachusetts is getting a new deportation hearing.

Onyango Obama is from Kenya but has lived in the U.S. for many years. He was ordered by an immigration judge to leave in 1992.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Brian Hale said Tuesday the Board of Immigration Appeals has sent Obama's case to the Executive Office for Immigration Review for reassessment. He won't say what triggered the decision.

Obama's Cleveland-based attorney hasn't returned a call seeking comment.

An Executive Office for Immigration Review spokeswoman won't comment, citing privacy laws.

Obama is the half-brother of the president's late father. He was arrested last year in Framingham and was charged with drunken driving. He acknowledged prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him.