The aunt of US President Barack Obama, an illegal immigrant who had previously cared for his siblings, is fighting deportation from the US.
Zeituni Onyango, 57, is expected in court to make her second attempt to be allowed to remain in the US after she ignored a 2004 deportation order to be sent back to her native Kenya.
Ms Onyango, who currently lives in a south Boston housing development, first applied for political asylum in 2002 citing violence in Kenya. Her request was denied two years later.
Reports about her life as an illegal immigrant in the US emerged just days before Mr Obama was elected in November 2008.
The hearing before Immigration Court Judge Leonard Shapiro is closed to the public, in accordance with Ms Onyango's request.
Lauren Alder Reid of the US Department of Justice's Executive Office for Immigration Review said: 'The immigration judge will hear the merits of the case from both parties.
'The judge may make a ruling from the bench, but there is no guarantee.'
Reports say that Ms Onyango was not trying to capitalise on favouritism as a member of the president's family - she is the half-sister of Mr Obama's late father.
The White House has said the president was unaware of her illegal status and that the appropriate laws should be followed.
