Zeituni Onyango, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetZeituni Onyango
Relative of Barack Obama
Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Kenya
About Zeituni Onyango
- Zeituni Onyango ( zay-TUN-ee on-YAHNG-goh; May 29, 1952 – April 7, 2014) was known as the half-aunt of United States President Barack Obama; she was born into the Luo tribe in Kenya.
- Born during the British rule of the Protectorate of Kenya, Onyango was the half-sister of Barack Obama Sr., father to the president.
- The younger Obama refers to her as "Aunti Zeituni" in his 1995 memoir, Dreams from My Father.
- In 2002 she had applied for political asylum in the United States but was denied.
- 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.In 2000, Onyango entered the United States on a temporary visa to accompany her son to college; she remained past its expiration date.
- In 2002 she sought political asylum in the United States, citing ethnic violence, as Kenya and East Africa had suffered an escalation in violence in the 2000s.
- Her case was denied in 2004.
- She remained in South Boston, Massachusetts, where she lived in public housing, and retained legal representation to try to gain asylum.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.
- The Massachusetts Department of Human Services investigated how her case was leaked.
- There was heightened federal administrative review on asylum deportations until after the 2008 general election.
- Onyango's case is often cited in light of immigration reform efforts of the Obama administration.
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