Obama aunt who stayed in US illegally dies at 61

She first came into the public eye in 2008 when reporters discovered she was living illegally in South Boston. At the time, then-Sen. Obama said he had no knowledge of her status. She had emigrated from Kenya in 2000, seeking political asylum, but her request was denied in 2004. She would later tell CBS Boston that she couldn't afford to leave the U.S. when her asylum request was denied. She lived in a homeless shelter for two years before being assigned public housing.

She is not the only relative of the president to have run into trouble with immigration authorities. The president's Kenyan-born half uncle, Onyango Obama, ignored a deportation order in 1992 but was granted permission to stay in the U.S. last December.