Well, isn’t this special? After overstaying her visa, ignoring a federal deportation order for years, escaping apprehension in Boston, and taking refuge in Cleveland, the destitute illegal alien aunt of Barack Obama somehow found her way to Washington, D.C., for her nephew’s inauguration.

Federal immigration officials couldn’t find her, but she was spotted by several media outlets and partygoers around the Beltway.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported:

Ohio Democrats put aside the state’s financial troubles and cold weather Sunday night to celebrate its part in electing Barack Obama to the White House.

Just a few blocks from Obama’s soon-to-be residence, elected officials, former officeholders, proud volunteers and party activists from the Buckeye State noshed and drank at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel, a historic luxury hotel…

… One special guest who commanded attention at the party was Zeituni Onyango, 56, Obama’s aunt from Kenya who has been in this country illegally and is getting help in her immigration fight from another ball guest, Cleveland attorney Margaret Wong.

About 900 people, who each paid $300, attended the ball, which was put on by a special committee set up for the event.

It sold corporate sponsorships — ranging from $10,000 to $75,000 — to help underwrite the cost of the ball and related activities. Among the sponsors were Duke Energy, Nationwide, the Ohio Education Association and Penn National Gaming.

The NYTimes, which doesn’t seem to have caught up to the news that Onyango ditched her Boston public housing for sanctuary in Ohio, added:

On Monday, some of Mr. Obama’s Kenyan relatives milled around the lobby of the Mayflower Hotel here, their colorful headscarves earning them more curious glances than even the sports and pop music stars in the room. Zeituni Onyango, the president’s aunt, explained that their family had always been able to absorb newcomers.

Pointing out that her male relatives used to take on multiple wives, she said, “My daddy said anyone coming into my family is my family.” (Ms. Onyango, who lives in Boston, recently faced deportation charges, but those orders have been stayed and she is pursuing a green card.)

Michelle Obama’s brother is quoted in the very next paragraph:

At holidays and celebrations, “you get a whole lot of people who are happy to be around family,” Craig Robinson said.

Guess Aunti has been rescued from under the bus — giving Hope to deportation fugitives across the country that Obama will look the other way at their cases, too.

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Previous Zeituni Onyango blogging.