Boy whose Yemeni mother fought for U.S. visa to visit him dies in hospital

Dec. 29, 2018 / 10:08 AM GMT

By Saphora Smith

A terminally ill boy whose Yemeni mother fought to visit him after being barred from entering the U.S. by the Trump administration’s travel ban has died in hospital in California.

Abdullah Hassan, 2, had suffered from a genetic brain condition and died at the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in Oakland, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said in a statement released Friday.

“We are heartbroken. We had to say goodbye to our baby, the light of our lives,” Abdullah’s father, Ali Hassan, said in the statement.

“We want to thank everyone for your love and support at this difficult time. We ask you to kindly keep Abdullah and our family in your thoughts and prayers,” the 22-year-old added.

Hassan — who is a U.S. citizen and has family in Stockton, California — brought his son to the U.S. for treatment a few months ago, CAIR said.

But Abdullah’s mother, Shaima Swileh, is a Yemeni national and was barred from entering the country under the Trump administration’s travel ban against people from mostly-Muslim-majority countries.

CAIR launched a campaign to publicize the family’s plight earlier this month and on Dec. 18 the State Department granted Swileh a waiver to visit her dying son. The 21-year-old mother arrived in San Francisco on Dec. 19.

The Trump administration’s travel ban, which replaced two earlier versions blocked by lower courts, bars travel to the U.S. from seven countries, five of which are predominantly Muslim: Libya, Iran, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. The other two are North Korea and Venezuela.

The State Department said earlier this month that it could not comment on any individual case. But it said that visa applicants from nations under the travel ban can be granted waivers if they don’t pose a security threat and if their absence from the U.S. would cause undue hardship.