A mother from Yemen on Tuesday was granted her wish to see her dying toddler one last time in the US, which agreed to issue her a waiver from its ban on citizens from several Muslim-majority countries.
Two-year-old Abdullah Hassan, a US citizen like his father, has a rare genetic brain condition and is on life support in a hospital in Oakland, California.
His mother, Shaima Swileh, had been unable to join him due to US President Donald Trump’s order barring visitors from six countries, including Yemen.
Photo: AFP / the Council on American-Islamic Relations
After a tearful televised plea from the boy’s father prompted public outrage, the US embassy in Cairo issued a visa for Swileh, who has been living temporarily in Egypt.
She was to arrive in San Francisco late yesterday, said the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Muslim civil rights group that assisted the family.
“This is the happiest day of my life,” her husband, Ali Hassan, said in a statement. “This will allow us to mourn with dignity.”
Hassan said he had been ready to take his son off life support last week after doctors said the case was terminal, with his wife only receiving automated replies when inquiring with US authorities on her visa application.
The council launched a campaign that it said prompted 15,000 e-mails to elected officials and thousands of tweets.
Abdullah’s grandfather earlier told the San Francisco Chronicle that Swileh was crying every day as she wanted to see her son “one last time.”
“To hold him for at least a minute. She’s not going to see him forever,” he said.
US Representative Barbara Lee, a Democrat who represents Oakland, had described denying the mother a visa as a level of cruelty that “takes my breath away.”
She on Twitter voiced relief at the waiver, but added: “So many families are still torn apart by the heinous travel ban. We can’t stop until we end this un-American policy for good.”
US Department of State spokesman Robert Palladino voiced sympathy for the family in the “very sad case,” but said that visas are “decided on a case-by-case basis” in accordance with US laws.
The department is “ensuring the integrity and security of our country’s borders and at the same time making every effort to facilitate legitimate travel to the United States,” he told reporters. “These are not easy questions.”
However, exceptions to Trump’s ban are exceedingly rare. The American Civil Liberties Union, which opposes Trump’s order, said that only 2 percent of applicants have been granted waivers.
In an executive order that triggered chaos before court challenges and revisions, Trump blocked new visas to nearly all citizens of five Muslim-majority countries — Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen — as well as North Korea and some officials from Venezuela.
A divided US Supreme Court in June upheld the ban, which it said was within the president’s powers.
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