Travel ban lifted for desperate mom
Yemeni woman allowed to see dying 2-year-old
Shaima Swileh simply wanted to give her son one more kiss before he dies.
After a long battle, the Yemeni woman arrived in the United States Wednesday night to see 2-year-old Abdullah, who is on life support.
Swileh won a waiver from the Trump administration’s travel ban, allowing her to fly to California.
Wearing dark glasses and a white headscarf, she was mobbed by well-wishers after arriving at San Francisco International Airport.
“This is a difficult time for our family but we are blessed to be together,” the boy’s father, Ali Hassan, said at the airport. “I ask you to respect our privacy as we go to be with our son again.”
The two then were driven away to see their son at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in Oakland.
The State Department granted Swileh a waiver after lawyers with the Council on American-islamic Relations sued this week, ending her family’s yearlong battle.
“This will allow us to mourn with dignity,” the boy’s father had said in an earlier statement.
Hassan, who is a U.S. citizen and lives in Stockton, brought Abdullah to California in the fall to get treatment for a genetic brain disorder.
“My wife is calling me every day wanting to kiss and hold her son for the one last time,” Hassan said, choking up as he made a public plea at a news conference Monday, a day before the government granted the visa.
The couple moved to Egypt after marrying in war-torn Yemen in 2016 and had been trying to get a visa for Swileh since 2017 so the family could move to California. Citizens from Yemen and four other mostly Muslim countries, along with North Korea and Venezuela, are restricted from coming to the United States under the travel ban enacted under President Donald Trump.
When the boy’s health worsened, Hassan went ahead to California in October to get their son help. As the couple fought for a waiver, doctors put Abdullah on life support.
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.”
He said he could not comment on the family’s situation but that in general cases are handled individually, and U.S. officials try to facilitate legitimate travel to the United States while protecting national security.