Mum gets visa to see dying son
After months of waiting, a Yemeni mother has been granted permission by the US State Department to fly to California to say goodbye to her dying 2-year-old son.
The woman, 21-year-old Shaima Swileh, has been living in Egypt but is a citizen of Yemen, one of several Muslim-majority countries targeted under a travel ban imposed by the Trump Administration. Swileh’s husband, Ali Hassan, 22, is a US citizen and resident of Stockton, California. The two met in Yemen, married in February 2016 and soon had their son, Abdullah.
But the boy was born with a degenerative brain disorder called hypomyelination, which caused him to experience seizures and other symptoms as an infant, civil rights lawyer Saad Sweilem said. Swileh and Hassan moved to Egypt, where they requested a travel visa for Swileh through the US Embassy in Cairo. The family hoped to get Abdullah medical care in a US hospital.
But in January 2017, President Donald Trump declared the travel ban by Executive Order, complicating Swileh’s efforts to obtain a visa, her lawyer said. Swileh’s case remained in limbo. Finally, in August, she was handed a piece of paper confirming that her eligibility for a waiver was still being reviewed.
So in October, Swileh’s husband and son boarded a plane to California without her. The boy began seeking treatment at a hospital in Oakland, where doctors sent letters to the embassy in Cairo about Abdullah’s dire health. Still, there was no progress. Publicity and pressure over Swileh’s situation mounted.
Sweilem said he was with Hassan when the man got a call from his relieved wife saying the embassy in Cairo had granted her a waiver. Swileh was scheduled to arrive in California today.
“The last time she was with her son, he was still well,” Sweilem said. “She is going to walk in to see her son on life support.”