Obama's aunt fights Kenya deportation in US court

President Barack Obama's aunt, an illegal immigrant from Kenya, pleaded for political asylum before a Boston court yesterday in a case that risks embarrassing the embattled President.

Zeituni Onyango, 57, arrived at the Boston federal immigration court in her second attempt to secure asylum after ignoring a 2004 deportation order.

Defence attorney Margaret Wong said Ms Onyango would "testify and there will be two other witnesses", both doctors.

"They're probably going to try to prevent the deportation because of medical issues," Ms Wong said. "But we have more than one ground."

Ms Wong said that Ms Onyango would plead to be allowed to stay in the United States citing "tribal violence" in Kenya.

She said Ms Onyango would appeal if ordered deported. The US government also has the right of appeal.

Despite having lived illegally for years in Massachusetts, Ms Onyango was unearthed by the US media in 2008 only days before Mr Obama's November election.

The White House said the President was unaware of her illegal status and that the appropriate laws should be followed.

Ms Onyango has said she never asked Mr Obama for help and that she cut off any ties to the President. It remains unclear who is paying for her legal representation, since Ms Onyango has been living in public housing and has no funds of her own.

She is the half-sister of Mr Obama's late father, who was Kenyan and married a white American, who gave birth to Mr Obama in Hawaii.

Ms Onyango moved to the United States in 2000 and applied for political asylum two years later, but was turned down. She was ordered deported in 2004.

The case puts Mr Obama in a delicate position at a time when he is reeling from his Democratic party's failure to pass health care reform legislation and a surge in momentum for the opposition Republicans.

Although there is no suggestion of favouritism or intervention by the White House, the issue could provide an unwelcome distraction as the year-old Obama presidency struggles to impose itself, as well as fuelling right-wing conspiracy theories about Mr Obama's exotic family background.