Cleveland, Ohio, Nov 8, 2008 / 01:10 am
President-elect Obama’s aunt, who is living in the U.S. illegally, will fight a deportation order, her lawyer says.
Zeituni Onyango was found to be staying with relatives in Cleveland after fleeing her public housing in Boston, where she had lived for five years, the Associated Press reports.
Onyango, a Kenyan native, is Obama’s father’s half-sister. She was ordered to leave the country in 2004 by an immigration judge who rejected her request for asylum.
Her Cleveland attorney Margaret Wong said she is exploring legal options and may appeal to re-open Onyango’s case. According to the Associated Press, Wong says Onyango is upset because she believes someone leaked information about her immigration status to try to hurt her nephew’s candidacy just before Election Day.