Disclosure About Obama's Aunt May Have Violated Privacy Policy

An aunt of presidential candidate Barack Obama was ordered to be deported but lives here in South Boston. (By Elise Amendola -- Associated Press)

Obama was raised mostly by his mother and her family in Hawaii after his father returned to Kenya when Obama was 2. Obama was reunited with his father once, for a month, at age 10.

Obama and his future wife, Michelle, met Onyango on a subsequent visit to Kenya in 1992, and she visited the Obama family in Chicago on a tourist visa about nine years ago, his campaign said. Onyango attended Obama's U.S. Senate swearing-in ceremony in 2005, and the senator last heard from her about two years ago, according to the campaign.

A campaign source said Obama provided Onyango no assistance in obtaining a tourist visa or housing, or in her immigration case.

In an interview with the Times of London, which first reported Onyango's presence in Boston and her campaign contributions, Onyango said she had traveled to and from the United States since 1975. Commercial databases indicate she received a Social Security card in 2001, indicating she was legally present and authorized to work at that time.

Onyango was not at her state-subsidized West Broadway residence yesterday in South Boston, and no one answered her telephone.

William McGonigle, deputy director of the Boston Housing Authority, said Onyango applied for public housing in 2002 and was approved in 2003 as an eligible noncitizen. She was paid a small stipend for volunteering as a resident health advocate starting in December 2007, he said.

McGonigle said that housing officials were not notified of her deportation order and that they followed all federal rules and laws in providing her stipend. He said housing officials were not aware that Onyango was related to Obama until the Times of London phoned last week.

Rakowsky reported from Boston. Staff writers Keith B. Richburg in New York and Matthew Mosk, and staff researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.