WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says it expects the arrest of President Barack Obama’s illegal immigrant uncle to be handled like any other immigration case.

Press Secretary Jay Carney also said Thursday that Obama did not know about the case involving his distant relative until being informed about it by staff.

Onyango Obama was arrested and charged with drunken driving in Massachusetts last week and is being held on an immigration detainer. A federal official has told The Associated Press that he was ordered by an immigration judge to leave the country almost two decades ago.

Onyango Obama, who’s from Kenya, is the half-brother of the president’s late father. Onyango Obama’s sister made headlines last year when she won the right to stay in the United States after an earlier deportation order.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.