Campaign: Obama didn't know aunt's immigration status

(CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama didn't know his aunt might be living illegally in the United States, as media outlets are reporting, his campaign said Saturday.

"Sen. Obama has no knowledge of her status but obviously believes that any and all appropriate laws [should] be followed," campaign spokesman Bill Burton said.

According to The Associated Press, a court refused four years ago to accept the asylum application of Zeituni Onyango, 56, the half-sister of Obama's Kenyan father. However, she has continued to live in a public housing complex in South Boston, AP reported.

Onyango's refusal to leave the country would be an administrative violation, not a criminal matter.

CNN has not been able to independently verify her immigration status.

Obama called the woman "Aunt Zeituni" in his memoirs, where he described her as the first Kenyan relative he encountered on his visit to his father's home country.

She told the Times that she travels back and forth between the United States and Kenya.

"I have been coming to America ever since 1975. I always come and go," the Times quoted her as saying.

Onyango has donated at least five times to Obama's campaign in July and September, listing her occupation as a "volunteer resident health advocate." Federal campaign finance records indicate several contributions in amounts of $5 and $25.

The gifts would appear to violate federal campaign finance law, which prohibits political donations by non-U.S. citizens.

"The responsibility is the campaign's to ensure the funds they receive are from permissible sources in appropriate amounts," Bob Biersack, a spokesman for the Federal Election Commission, told The Times of London.

Liar liar, pants on fire ... : o )

Get used to it, my friends ...

Obama's see no evil, hear no evil (Tony Rezko, Rev Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, et al) defense is getting old already.