Good News Tuesday: 'Uncle Omar' Obama Can Remain in United States

Earlier this year we learned that President Barack Obama's 69-year old uncle ... Onyango Obama ... might get deported back to Kenya after living in the United States for over 50 years. Today, we learn that Kenyan-born 'Uncle Omar', who ignored a deportation order more than two decades ago, was granted permission to stay in the U.S.

Judge Leonard Shapiro made the decision after Onyango Obama, 69, testified that he had lived in the U.S. for 50 years, been a hard worker, paid income tax and been arrested only once.

Asked about his family in the U.S., he said, "I do have a nephew." Asked to name the nephew, he said, "Barack Obama, he's the president of the United States."

Shapiro cited a law that entitles immigrants who are "out of status" to become permanent residents if they arrived in the U.S. before 1972, maintained continuous residence and are of good moral character.

Read the full article.

President Obama's Uncle May be Deported to Kenya After 50 Years in America

I think that President Obama's uncle may be in some hot water this time. Turns out that he was ordered to go back to Kenya many years ago ... but, he never did. Onyango Obama has been in America as an undocumented worker for 50 years ... but, he has a court date set for later this year to determine whether or not he should be deported.

Obama manages a liquor store and came to America in 1963 to attend an school at Cambridge. Immigration documents show that Obama was first ordered to leave in 1986, and again in 1989. Somehow Obama slipped through the cracks all those years, but given his high profile nephew, it is doubtful that that will happen again.

You wonder why they couldn't get a better picture of the dude for this article?!

President Obama Shows Some Cojones on Behalf of the 'Dreamers'

President Obama announces a new Department of Homeland Security policy that will allow certain young people who were brought to the United States as young children, do not present a risk to national security or public safety, and meet several key criteria to be considered for relief from removal from the country or from entering into removal proceedings.






In many ways this is a historic day. Our president doesn't have the support necessary in the Congress to debate and pass comprehensive immigration reform. So, our president decided to take action on his own -- Thanks to our president, this nation's immigration policy just became more fair and more just.

They're a group that we've come to call the "Dreamers" -- and today, the country they love is telling them they should be able to dream as big as they want.

The hundreds of thousands of people who this policy might help are people who call the United States of America home. They study in our schools, play in our parks, and pledge allegiance to our flag. Some of them have served in our Armed Forces. They've started businesses; they've started families. They are Americans in every way but on paper.

Congress still has time to pass the DREAM Act. And if they do, policies like today's will no longer be necessary.

I wonder how Congress will respond? For that matter, I wonder what 'villagers' are thinking about the issue. What say u?

Arizona Police Officer: 'This is a Racist Law' [VIDEO]

Brave New Foundation's Cuéntame, has made major headlines this week for its video interview with Arizona Police Officer Paul Dobson speaking out about evil Arizona anti-immigration bill, SB1070. Officer Dobson is now under investigation for exercising his first amendment right to speak freely about the real effects of the law:

“I know people will not call the police in case of a real emergency. This law is purely racist and solely focused on Latinos. In my opinion, SB 1070 violates equal protection under the law.” Paul Dobson, Patrol Officer, Arizona

Here is the video interview:




Are you in favor of the Arizona law? What would you like to see done about immigration reform in America?

President Obama on Immigration Reform [Video]

President Obama is the hardest-working person that I know. His job is a never-ending series of crisis-management events. Yesterday he was working on the illegal immigration crisis.

Our president delivered an address at American University to "make the case for providing a path to legal status for the estimated 11 million people who live in the U.S. illegally."





Obama met with lawmakers earlier this week to discuss a strategy for passing immigration reform, "possibly during a lame-duck session of Congress after the November election."

I simply wish that our elected representatives would get together on come up with solutions to issues like comprehensive immigration reform. However, I can see that it is not possible when the Republicans are being as cynical as they are being in this "Just Say No" legislative policy. I'm glad that Obama is calling them out on it.

What say u?

(Th)ink by Keith Knight: Illegals at the Border

(Th)ink is an editorial cartoon written and drawn by cartoonist Keith Knight (the K Chronicles).

Immigration Detention: 'Jailed Without Justice'

I encourage villagers to join with Amnesty International to call on the Department of Homeland Security to make U.S. immigration detention standards enforceable, and to use alternatives to detention in a meaningful way.

Over 30,000 immigrants are detained EVERY DAY. This is triple the number detained just ten years ago. Immigrants can be detained for months or years without any meaningful judicial review - this despite international human rights standards requiring judicial review.

Amnesty International has a 56-page report, entitled Jailed Without Justice that shares horrific stories of detention abuse and mismanagement here in the United States. For example, Mr. N, a Buddhist monk, fled to the U.S. after he was tortured in Tibet for his religious beliefs. When he arrived in New York, he was immediately detained and never had a chance to argue for his case before a judge. After 10 months in detention, he was finally granted asylum.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) could issue new regulations that would quickly solve many of these problems. But instead, just three weeks ago, the office in charge of these policies testified before Congress that it plans to detain almost a hundred thousand more immigrants this year than last.

Villagers, please tell Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano that this is wrong and that she should take steps to fix this flawed system.

What say u?

Jamiel Shaw's Killer Might Be Illegal Alien

I was very disappointed to learn that the suspected street gang member charged in the shooting death of a high school football star, may have been in the country illegally [SOURCE]. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials will detain and investigate Pedro Espinoza, 19, for possible deportation once his current murder charge has run its course. It turns out that Espinoza was released from jail in an assault case the day before the March 2 killing of 17-year-old Jamiel Shaw Jr., a standout running back at Los Angeles High School.

Espinoza, a suspected member of a street gang called 18th Street, was charged last week with a single murder count with a special-circumstance allegation that could make him eligible for the death penalty. Police are looking for a second suspect.

The way that leaders of the African American and Latino communities deal with this issue of gangs, murder and illegal immigration could set the tone for Black-Brown political relationships for many years to come. Is there anywhere in our country where our two communities are operating in harmony? Is there any hope to find a solution for illegal immigration that we can support nationwide? What say u?

Immigration Impacts List of Top Ten Surnames in America

Can you guess what the most popular surnames are these days? My surname is Hicks. We ranked #155 in the country. I figured that Smith and Jones were still in the Top 10. I didn't know that Garcia and Rodriguez were on that list. This is another indication of the changing demographics of our country.

The top ten surnames are:

1. Smith - only one if five Smiths are Black
2. Johnson
3. Williams
4. Brown
5. Jones
6. Miller
7. Davis
8. Garcia
9. Rodriguez
10. Wilson

Click here to see if your surname is in the Top 500. Anyhow, the Census Bureau study found that while Smith remains the most popular surname, Latino surnames are increasingly edging out historically common Anglo names. The number of Latino surnames in the top 25 doubled to six, the study shows.

Immigration has been the major factor prompting the rise in the Latino population in the United States. During the 1990s, the number of Latinos in America grew 58 percent and accounted for 13 percent of the country's 281,421,906 million population in 2000; today the number of Latinos tops 44 million and they are close to 15 percent of the population. People of color, largely fueled by the Latino population explosion, now are the majority in California and are expected to be the majority of the U.S. population by 2050.

One of the other findings of the survey is that nearly 90 percent of Washingtons and 75 percent of Jeffersons in America are Black. I wonder what that says about our our early presidents, George and Tom?