Yemeni mother to visit dying son Abdullah after US travel ban lifted

Shaima Swileh, whose home country Yemen is on a US list of banned nations, has been given permission to visit two-year-old Abdullah in California after the state department granted her a waiver on Tuesday following a year-long campaign.

“This will allow us to mourn with dignity,” the boy’s father, Ali Hassan, said in a statement published by the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Mr Hassan, who, like his son is a US citizen living in Stockton, brought Abdullah to California this autumn to get treatment for a genetic brain disorder as his condition worsened.

At a news conference, Mr Hassan, 22, broke down on Monday as he pleaded with officials to help, saying: “My wife is calling me every day wanting to kiss and hold her son for the one last time.”

Ms Swileh, who lives in Egypt, where the family moved from war-ravaged Yemen in 2016, has been trying to get a visa since 2017.

She is planning to fly to San Francisco on Wednesday to see Abdullah at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in Oakland.

Citizens from Yemen and four other mostly Muslim countries, along with North Korea and Venezuela, are restricted from
coming to the US under President Trump’s travel ban.

As doctors in the US put the youngster on life support, Mr Hassan contacted authorities to ask for his wife’s waiver.

“I am emailing them, crying, and telling them that my son is dying,” Mr Hassan said in an interview with The Sacramento Bee newspaper.

Unable to make progress, he was considering taking his son off life support to end his suffering when a hospital social worker contacted the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Sacramento.

The council filed a case against the US government on Monday, alleging that the waiver system is not being honoured.

The waiver provision allows a case-by-case exemption for people who can show entry to the US is in the national interest, is needed to prevent undue hardship and would not pose a security risk.

State department spokesman Robert Palladino called it “a very sad case, and our thoughts go out to this family at this time, at this trying time.

Ms Swileh will be allowed to stay in the US with her husband and begin a path toward US citizenship, Basim Elkarra of the council said.

Immigration lawyers believe tens of thousands of people have been affected by what they call blanket denials of visa applications under Trump’s travel ban, which the US Supreme Court upheld in a 5-4 ruling in June.