Presidential pardons are rare. But Politico reports that the kind of pardon President Barack Obama gave to Honolulu resident An Na Peng is “even rarer than usual: a pardon aimed at curing an applicant’s immigration problems.”

Politico has this report:

Obama pardoned An Na Peng of Honolulu for her 1996 conviction on a single felony charge of conspiracy to defraud the Immigration and Nautraliztion Service. The case stemmed from allegations that Peng and several others who worked for a firm the INS used to administer naturalization tests gave citizenship candidates the correct answers to the exam or altered their answers to help them pass. A brief her lawyer filed says she did not receive any money for giving illegal help to the applicants.

Peng, a Chinese citizen, apparently sought the pardon to avoid the possibility of being deported. She’s the mother of two children, one of whom is autistic, according to court records. She’s been a green-card holder in the U.S since she came here in 1991 to join her then-green-card holder husband, who’s also from China.

There were two twists in Peng’s case: She was charged in 1996, a pivotal year for immigration law; and she had already won her appeal at the 9th Circuit. Read the full story.

Official White House Photo.