Governor intervenes to help save infant’s life
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says a 4-month-old Iranian girl banned from entering the US for lifesaving heart surgery under President Donald Trump’s order will now be allowed to travel to New York for the emergency procedure.
Cuomo said yesterday that Manhattan’s Mount Sinai Hospital would perform the surgery at no cost.
Last weekend the girl’s family tried to enter the country with a tourist visa through Portland, Oregon. But they were abruptly turned back.
Private funds will cover travel costs for the infant and her family, as well as their New York stay.
Cuomo worked with the International Refugee Assistance Project to secure the waiver of Trump’s order.
Fatemah Taghizadeh was diagnosed with twisted arteries not long after her birth, said lawyer Amber Murray.
‘‘In Iran there’s a 20-30 per cent chance of success with surgery,’’ Murray said yesterday. ‘‘And here, there’s a 97 per cent chance of success.’’
Fatemah’s uncle and grandparents are all US citizens living in Oregon, so the family decided to travel to the US for an emergency surgical consultation at the Oregon Health & Science University, hopefully to be followed by surgery.
Fatemah’s family spent weeks preparing paperwork for tourist visas for medical purposes, and travelled to Dubai in late January for a visa interview at the US embassy there. Last Friday, after Trump signed the has the ability to hold everybody accountable to it, and that includes the president of the United States.’’
Ferguson, a Democrat, said the order was harming Washington residents, businesses and its education system. Washingtonbased businesses Amazon, Expedia and Microsoft support the state’s order banning travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries, the embassy cancelled the appointment.
‘‘It’s like a nightmare,’’ said Sam Taghizadeh, Fatemah’s uncle. ‘‘All the paper, everything was ready, and just in the last minute they canceled everything.
‘‘She needs the surgery as soon as possible. They cannot wait, you know. Even I asked, can they wait a couple [more] years? They said no. This thing has to be as soon as possible.’’
Taghizadeh told The Oregonian that the family was told to reapply efforts to stop the order, saying it is hurting their operations.
The judge’s ruling could be appealed to the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals.
In court, Washington Solicitor General Noah Purcell said the focus of the state’s legal challenge was the way the president’s order targeted Islam. Trump has called for a visa in three months.
Yesterday, representative Suzanne Bonamici took Fatemah’s case to the floor of the House of Representatives, and condemned Trump’s order as she gestured at a photo of the infant.
Taghizadeh said he and his parents had been shaken by Trump’s order. ‘‘Why we came to US – we came here for freedom. For a better life. I’m feeling nowhere is safe.
‘‘My father was so excited to see his granddaughter for the first time. Our whole family is in a depression.’’ for a ban on Muslims entering the country, and the travel ban was an effort to make good on that campaign promise, Purcell told the judge.
Purcell said there was an ‘‘overwhelming amount of evidence’’ to show that the order was directed at Islam, which was unconstitutional.