Obama’s uncle granted legal residency

President Obama’s uncle was granted legal residency in an immigration court in Boston on Tuesday. 

Judge Leonard I. Shapiro of the Justice Department’s U.S. Immigration Court approved Onyango “Omar” Obama’s application for legal residency in the United States, according to the Boston Globe. He faced the threat of deportation at the hearing.

The paper’s immigration reporter, Maria Sacchetti, live-tweeted the proceeding.

“Thank you, your honor,” Omar Obama said, according to Sachetti’s Twitter feed.

{mosads}Shapiro said he believed Omar Obama “was a gentleman, a good neighbor, paid his taxes, and met the criteria for legal permanent residency, commonly known as a green card,” according to the Globe. 

Omar Obama, 69, was born in Kenya and is the half-brother of the president’s late father. He has lived in the United States since the 1960s.

In 1992, Omar Obama was ordered to leave the country, but stayed. He had been ordered to be deported in 1986 and 1989, according to the Globe’s report. 

He was arrested in 2011 for drunk driving, and was sentenced to one year of probation.

During the Tuesday hearing, the Globe reported that Omar Obama said, “I do have a nephew. He’s the president of the United States.”

Shapiro is the same judge who granted Omar Obama’s sister, Zeituni, asylum in 2010.