Aunt Obama, Julie Myers, and Election 2008: Another Conspiracy Theory?

The weekend before the election, reports hit the wires that Senator Obama’s aunt was an “illegal alien” who had been denied asylum years ago.  Immediately after the election Immigration & Customs Enforcement head Julie Myers, who was controversial from her nomination through a Halloween party debacle and beyond, announced that she would soon be stepping down.  Think Progress suggests that there is a link between the two news stories:

“Myers’s resignation comes just days after a “federal law enforcement official” told the AP that Barack Obama’s aunt was living in the United States illegally. ICE officials, however, are “prohibited from commenting on any individual’s status or the status of any case.” House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) has called for an immediate investigation into the matter. On Saturday, Tim Dickinson at Rolling Stone questioned whether Myers may have been the source of the unauthorized leak.”

We will see what the Congressional investigation unearths.

By the way, John P. Torres, former head of ICE’s detention and removal operations, has been designated to serve as acting head of ICE through the presidential transition.

KJ