Asylum hearing for Obama aunt ends with no ruling

BOSTON - An immigration hearing for President Barack Obama's African aunt ended yesterday without an immediate decision in her second bid for asylum in the United States.

Zeituni Onyango, a native of Kenya, did not comment after testifying for about 2 1/2 hours in closed proceedings in U.S. Immigration Court.

"The hearing went well. She was very honest. She was very to the point," her lawyer, Margaret Wong, said. She said Onyango is hopeful the judge will rule in her favor because "she really wants to stay in America."

Two doctors testified in support of the case her lawyer said includes medical reasons to stay in the United States. Wong declined afterward to discuss specifics before a judge's decision.

"This is America. Justice will be done and the truth will come out," Wong said.

Onyango, 57, arrived in a wheelchair, a cane across her lap. Later, she used the cane to walk to a waiting car.

In a November interview with The Associated Press, she said she is disabled and learning to walk again after being paralyzed from Guillain-Barre syndrome, an autoimmune disorder.

It was not clear when Judge Leonard Shapiro will rule.

At the White House, press secretary Robert Gibbs said the first family is not helping to pay Onyango's legal fees and Obama has not spoken to her since he learned of her immigration status just days before the November 2008 elections.