Zeituni Onyango (/zeɪˈtʌni ɒnˈjɑːŋɡoʊ/ zay-TUN-ee on-YAHNG-goh; May 29, 1952 – April 7, 2014) was the half-aunt of United States President Barack Obama; she was born into the Luo tribe in Kenya.
She became notable when her case was leaked in the final days of the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign in which Barack Obama was the Democratic candidate, attracting international media attention.
[6] In 2000, Onyango entered the United States on a temporary visa to accompany her son to college; she remained past its expiration date.
[7] Her case highlighted "the hot-button topic of illegal immigration" in a presidential race that had avoided it, as well as contradictory rules governing eligibility for public housing in Massachusetts.
[11] At the time, Onyango gave Obama perspective on his father and his achievements, noting that, when Barack Sr. left Kenya for Hawaii in 1959 to go to college, he was the first in the family to travel by airplane and to study abroad.
He eventually rose to become senior economist in the Kenyan Ministry of Finance before political conflict with President Kenyatta destroyed his career.
[14][15] In his memoir Dreams from My Father (1995), Barack Obama wrote about his journey to Kenya, including meeting Onyango, whom he called "Aunti Zeituni".
[7] A Boston Housing Authority official said that the agency was never notified that a deportation order had been issued against Onyango after the government denied her request for asylum.
[18] William McGonigle, deputy director of the Boston Housing Authority, said, "We have no affirmative responsibility I am aware of to further check on their [applicants'] status after they are initially deemed to be eligible.
"[19](A 1977 federal consent decree, resulting from a class action lawsuit in Waltham, prohibits state officials from denying public housing to illegal immigrants).
[3][21] Described as a frail woman who walked with a cane, Onyango had been granted a flat normally set aside for people facing physical hardship.
[1] As of 2008 Onyango worked as a volunteer computer systems co-ordinator for the Experience Corps, a program in which adults over age 55 mentor children in their communities.
Interviewed in September 2010 following this action, she described having lived in a homeless shelter for two years in Boston while waiting for her public housing apartment.
"In 2002 Onyango applied for political asylum in the United States citing violence in Kenya; a federal immigration judge eventually rejected the request and instructed her to leave the country.
Onyango's immigration status became the subject of widespread international media attention in the final week of the 2008 U.S. presidential election, in which her half-nephew Obama was the Democratic candidate.
[citation needed] Putting Onyango's case in perspective, MSNBC's Domenico Montanaro noted at the time that thousands of people live for years in the US after receiving deportation orders.
[44][45] Immigration Judge Leonard I. Shapiro granted Zeituni Onyango, her lawyers Margaret Wong and Scott Bratton, and her two doctors an extended hearing that lasted five hours.
[48] Asylum seekers are granted greater protection from release of information to the public, because of the sensitive nature of their claims and the risks of retaliation.
[48] A spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said the Onyango case had been referred to the agency's Office of Professional Responsibility and its parent department's inspector general for investigation of the leak.