by:AAron Klein
President Obama’s literary agent is not the only one who was confused over the politician’s birthplace.
The U.S. government is on record questioning Obama’s citizenship
status as early as when he was 5 years old, stating it lacked
documentation to determine his citizenship,
WND previously exposed.
The citizenship inquiry dated back to 1966, when Obama’s mother,
Stanley Ann Dunham, was attempting to secure a waiver so her second
husband, Indonesian citizen Lolo Soetoro, could return to the country
after his visa had expired.
Dunham and Obama Sr. are reported to have divorced in 1964.
In 1965 in Hawaii, Dunham married Soetoro, an Indonesian, and moved to Indonesia in October 1967.
Soetoro had been studying at the University of Hawaii as part of a State Department-initiated student exchange program.
Soetoro’s student visa had been sponsored by the University of
Hawaii’s Center for Cultural and Technical Interchange between East and
West. The program enforced strict visa limitations, requiring foreign
students to return to their home countries after two years.
According to U.S. immigration files obtained and reviewed by WND,
Soetoro was approved for a 21-month study grant beginning Sept. 1, 1962,
at the East-West Center.
A memorandum from the center dated July 7, 1965, relates how Soetoro
had his Class J visa briefly extended after he married Dunham, due to a
claimed illness on the part of Dunham. His visa had been set to expire
June 15, 1964.
“He gave his wife’s illness as the reason for his visa extension request,” stated the center’s memo.
The memo said Soetoro claimed Dunham had been “suffering from a
stomach ailment which may, according to her physician, require surgery.”
“When I pressed Mr. Soetoro for more information regarding the name
of the physician, etc., he claimed that he could not remember exactly,”
continued the memo, signed by Robert Wooster of the University of Hawaii’s exchange program.
Further notes from the exchange program that year indicated Soetoro worked at the time for Hawaii-Pacific Engineers Surveyors.
An additional memorandum, from July 13, 1965, advised that Soetoro no
longer was associated with the East-West Center and that the University
of Hawaii exchange program could not further help him renew his U.S.
visa.
Soetoro had turned to the center to make a special exception in his
case and to hold his return travel for another year, or until June 22,
1966.
“I gather that he intends to make every attempt to remain
indefinitely with or without East-West Center approval although his
manner throughout our interview was polite and cordial,” stated a memo
from the center.
The memo, from Robert Zumwinkle, executive director of the East-West
Center’s Institute for Student Interchange, said the program received a
special cable from the Indonesian government that Soetoro, a civilian
employee of the Indonesian army, must “immediately terminate his studies
and return to Djakarta, Indonesia.”
Soetoro apparently was expected to devote four years of service to
the Indonesian government in return for its subsidizing geography
studies at the country’s Gadjah Mada University, as well as for his
participation in the student exchange program.
The memo made clear the East-West Center would not help Soetoro extend his U.S. visa.
It complained Soetoro did not comply with its previous instructions to return to Indonesia at the end of his studies.
Soetoro departed the U.S. for Indonesia on June 20, 1966. Once back
in his home country, Soetoro attempted to secure a waiver from the U.S.
immigration authorities for his immediate return to Hawaii, according to
immigration files reviewed by WND.
Dunham and Soetoro both filed petitions with U.S. Immigration in
hopes of persuading the American government to grant a waiver allowing
Soetoro to return.
The petitions claimed Dunham would suffer undue “psychological hardship” because of Soetoro’s departure.
Some petitions referenced hardship that may be suffered by Obama, then aged 5.
In a Nov. 22, 1966, interview with Robert Schultz, immigrant
inspector in Honolulu, Dunham talked about financial hardships for her
son.
“I buy personal things for my 5-year-old boy. I also pay $50.00 a
month for a babysitter from 2:30 to 5:00 p.m,” she wrote, referring to
Obama.
That petition was denied, with immigration authorities determining
that according to remarks from her own interview, Dunham made enough
money to support both herself and her son.
A document to the Assistant Region Commission Travel Control in
Honolulu from December 1966 stated, “It was also determined that the
applicant’s spouse is now employed and can adequately maintain both
herself and her 5-year-old child by a former marriage.”
Facing repeated denials, Dunham decided she would apply for a visa to Indonesia to live with Soetoro.
‘Nothing on file’ to document Obama’s citizenship
Before that, immigration authorities exchanged queries about Obama, with one noting questions about Obama’s citizenship.
One critical exchange is dated Aug. 21, 1967, from Sam Benson, an
officer at the Southwest Immigration and Naturalization Service office
in San Pedro, Calif.
Benson’s query stated: “There is nothing in the file to document the
status of the spouse’s son. Please inquire into his citizenship and
residence status and determine whether or not he is the applicant’s
child within the meaning of Section 101(b)(1)(B) of the Act, who may
suffer exceptional hardship within the meaning of Section 212(a).”
The reference is to the Immigration and Naturalization Act, which
defined a “child” as an unmarried person under 21 years of age who,
among other qualifiers, could be a “stepchild,” whether or not born out
of wedlock, provided the child had not reached the “age of eighteen
years at the time the marriage creating the status of stepchild
occurred.”
A response to Benson’s inquiry came from one “W.L. Mix” of the
central immigration office, who determined Obama was a U.S. citizen.
Mix replied: “Pursuant to inquiry from central office regarding the
status of the applicants’ spouse’s child by a former marriage.”
“The person in question is a United States citizen by virtue of his
birth in Honolulu, Hawaii, Aug. 4, 1961. He is living with the
applicants’ spouse in Honolulu, Hawaii. He is considered the applicant’s
step-child, within the meaning of Sec. 101(b)(1)(B), of the act, by
virtue of the marriage of the applicant to the child’s mother on March
5, 1965.”
The files do not state how the office determined Obama was born in Honolulu.
With research by Brenda J. Elliott