Grant Abdullah's Mother a Waiver to See Her Dying Son

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    The Message

    Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Chief of Mission Thomas Goldberger (U.S. Embassy in Cairo):

    The Muslim Ban has been keeping families and communities apart for nearly a year. It's the height of cruelty to prevent a mother from seeing her dying son because of Trump's bigoted plan to keep Muslims out of the U.S.

    We call on you to immediately grant Shaima Swileh a visa to visit the U.S. and spend time with her dying son.

    This story is absolutely heartbreaking. 

    Trump's Muslim Ban is preventing the mother of a 2-year-old boy on life support from coming to the country to say goodbye to her son.1

    Abdullah Hassan is currently being kept alive at a children's hospital in Oakland. But because his mother, Shaima Swileh, is a Yemeni national, she can't get a visa to come to the U.S. to spend time with him during his last few days.2

    This is cruel, inhumane, and unacceptable. 

    The U.S. State Department has the authority to grant waivers to the Ban, and it would be the ultimate cruelty for them to continue to deny one to Abdullah's mother.

    Click here and send a message to the State Department and the Embassy in Cairo—where Swileh is currently living—and demand that they immediately grant her a visa to see her dying son.

    There's only one reason that Shaima Swileh is being prevented from seeing Abdullah: Trump's bigoted plan to keep Muslims out of the U.S., which was upheld this past summer by right-wing justices on the Supreme Court.

    One of the arguments that the administration used in court was that the Ban's waiver process supposedly provides relief for banned individuals to get visas. In practice, the waiver process has been a sham—with less than 2% of applicants being granted waivers. 

    But, there's precedent that shows that, if we make enough noise, the State Department will grant waivers in exception to the Ban.

    This past summer, lawyers challenging the Muslim Ban in the Supreme Court highlighted the case of Shaema Alomari, a 10-year-old with cerebral palsy who was banned because she's Yemeni.3 Weeks later, the family received waivers and was allowed to the enter the U.S.

    Let's make enough noise that the State Department is forced to address this travesty and reunite Abdullah with his mother. Sign here to send them a message.

    Let's get this done #ForAbdullah, his mother, and their family.

    P.S. After you've signed the petition, please make sure to share it! Let's get enough buzz going on social media that the State Department is forced to address this.

     

    Sources:

    1. "Trump travel ban keeps Yemeni mother from seeing dying 2-year-old in Oakland," San Francisco Chronicle, Dec 17, 2018
    https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Trump-s-travel-ban-keeping-mother-from-dying-13470703.php

    2. Ibid. 

    3. "A Yemeni-American Wanted To Bring His Family Home. Then Came The Travel Ban.," NPR, Aug 10, 2018
    https://www.npr.org/2018/08/10/627306970/a-yemeni-american-wanted-to-bring-his-family-home-then-came-the-travel-ban     

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