Obama's Aunt to be Granted Asylum?

President Barack Obama's aunt will remain in the United States until at least next year as she awaits a chance to make her case before an immigration judge in her bid for asylum from her native Kenya. At a hearing in Boston, a judge set the case of Zeituni Onyango, for Feb. 4, 2010. Ms. Onyango, 56, first applied for asylum in 2002, but was rejected and ordered deported in 2004. She did not leave the country and continued to live in public housing in Boston. Her lawyer said Ms. Onyango first applied for asylum because of violence in Kenya but did not reveal what grounds she had cited in her renewed bid.

Wednesday's hearing at the U.S. Immigration Court in Boston was closed to the media at the request of Margaret Wong, Onyango's attorney. Lawyers for the Department of Homeland Security are defending an order to deport Onyango.

White House spokesman Ben LaBolt says President Obama is staying out of the matter and that "the president believes that the case should run its ordinary course."

When the initial appearance was over, Onyango, wearing a red wig and dark glasses, was escorted through a side door of the courthouse to avoid news cameras staking out the main entrances.

Onyango lives in public housing in South Boston and volunteers as a health advocate for people in her housing complex. She reportedly attended inauguration events for her nephew in January accompanied by her lawyer.