Zeituni Onyango | Obama's aunt, 61
Zeituni Onyango, 61, an aunt of President Obama who was denied asylum in this country but stayed illegally for years, has died in Massachusetts.
Zeituni Onyango, 61, an aunt of President Obama who was denied asylum in this country but stayed illegally for years, has died in Massachusetts.
Attorney Margaret Wong, who represented Ms. Onyango in her immigration case, said she died Tuesday at a Boston rehabilitation center. She was being treated for cancer and respiratory problems.
She moved to the United States from Kenya in 2000 and was denied asylum by an immigration judge in 2004. She remained in the country illegally, living in Boston public housing.
Ms. Onyango was a half-sister of Obama's late father. She was granted asylum in 2010 by a judge who said she could be in danger if she returned to Kenya because of her relationship with Obama.
Ms. Onyango, born in Kenya in 1952, raised a family there and worked in the computer department of Kenya Breweries.
"She was an awesome, funny, shrewd, smart lady born at the wrong place at the wrong time," Wong said. "If she was only born in America or born in more Western open society . . . she could have been anything she wanted to be."
The White House had no immediate comment. - AP