Obama charged for drunk driving

When pulled over by Framingham, MA cops on suspicion of driving drunk last week, Onyango Obama knew exactly how he would use his one phone call from jail. "I think I will call the White House," he said. After all, that`s where his nephew lives.

Obama, the uncle that the president mentions in his memoir "Dreams from My Father," was charged with operating under the influence of alcohol, negligent operation of a motor vehicle and failure to yield the right of way around 20 miles outside of Boston, Massachusetts. Police say that rolling through a stop sign almost caused a cop cruiser to nearly slam into Obama`s car, and after administering roadside sobriety tests, authorities determined the man to be under the influence of alcohol. At the station he blew a 14 blood-alcohol level and said he`d phone up his nephew to arrange for bail.

Since being put behind bars, federal immigration officials are now investigating whether or not Onyango Obama is a proper citizen of the United States. The Associated Press reports that the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement office has issued detainer on Obama, who had received a deportation or removal order in years past. Now he is being held without bail while immigration officials investigate.

A spokesperson for the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles says that they have records of a valid driver`s license and Social Security number for Obama, and have since 1992, but the man`s attorney tells the AP that he "wouldn`t know how" Onyango obtained a Social Security card. Margaret Wong, the same attorney that represented the president`s aunt Zeituni Onyango last year, is representing the president`s uncle.

Obama was pulled over outside the Chicken Bone saloon, only around a mile from his single-family home. The White House has not issued a statement on the arrest yet.

sections: World News