US-based Yemeni family reported that the mother is was granted waiver to visit the US to hold her dying son one last time.
Shaima Swileh, the mother, was refused visa to the US to visit her dying son in California as a result of the US travel ban.
The news came moments after the the father, Ali Hassan, appeared on CNN begging consular officials to assist his wife with her visa application process to see her son before he dies.
The son, Abdullah Hassan, is a two-year-old who suffers from a terminal brain illness known as hypomyelination, which affects his ability to breathe. Doctors reported that he will not be able to make it and it now relying on life-support.
According to Hassan’s family, Shaima wishes to see him one more time before he is taken off of life-support.
However, his father, Ali Hassan, said that Shaima is unable to obtain a visitors’ visa to the US because of the travel ban President Trump imposed on majority Muslim countries.
The ban is imposed on Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, preventing nationals from entering the US.
The 22-year-old father, Ali, told the San Francisco Chronicle,”All she wishes is to hold his hand for the last time.” Shaima is now living in Egypt where she applied for a waiver from the US Department of state to travel to her son.
The father said that Abdullah will probably die if he goes to Egypt for his mother to see him one last time Egypt.
Abdullah’s family is one of the many affected by Trump’s travel ban. The came to the US in the 1980s where they obtained citizenship but continued to visit their home country, Yemen.
Abdullah was only eight months old when his family fled to Cairo to escape the civil war that broke out in Yemen. After Abdullah’s diagnosis, his father took him to the US for treatment hoping that Shaima will be able to join them soon.
His family instantly applied for a visa for Shaima once they learned that Abdullah’s conditions was fatal. However, she was denied a visa because of Trump’s travel ban as cited in the rejection letter.
A state department official disclosed to the BBC that they try “every effort to facilitate legitimate travel by international visitors”.
“We are also fully committed to administering US immigration law and ensuring the integrity and security of our country’s borders,” the official added.
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