The Yemeni mother, who was barred from travelling to the United States under the White House travel ban, has finally reached California to say goodbye to her two-year-old dying son.
Shaima Swileh was granted a visa this week by the US State Department after she spent more than two months apart from her unwell son. Swileh's husband Ali Hassan was forced to take the couple's only son Abdullah on his own to the US for treatment for a genetic brain condition. Hassan and Abdullah departed for the US on October 1.
Swileh flew out of Egypt and landed on Wednesday night at San Francisco International Airport. She is expected to travel about 22 miles to the University of California San Francisco's Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland to reunite with Abdullah, who is on life support.
The State Department granted Swileh the waiver on Tuesday after lawyers with the Council on American-Islamic Relations sued this week, ending a year-long battle for the family.
"This will allow us to mourn with dignity," the boy's father, Ali Hassan, said in a statement provided by the Sacramento chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Hassan, who is a US 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 they could all 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, the father decided to go ahead to California in October to get their son help.
As Swileh and her husband fought for a waiver, doctors put Abdullah on life support.
Hassan started losing hope and was considering pulling his son off life support to end his suffering. But then a hospital social worker reached out to the council, which sued Monday, said Basim Elkarra of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Sacramento.
Swileh lost months with her child over what amounted to unnecessary delays and red tape, Elkarra said.
(With inputs from agencies)
