The two-year-old son of a Yemeni mother who sued the Trump administration for not letting her into the United States to be with her ill son has died.
Abdullah Hassan died at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in Oakland on Friday 28 December 2018.
He was brought to California by his father a few months ago to receive medical treatment due to his degenerative brain condition.
The toddler’s mother, Shaima Swileh, who is a Yemeni national, was unable to be with her ailing son and her husband because citizens of Yemen and four other Muslim majority countries, are restricted from coming to the U.S. under President Donald Trump’s ‘travel ban’.
As hope Abdullah’s father, Ali Hassan, was losing hope, he considered taking his son off life support machine.
However, a hospital worker reached out to the Council on America-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which filed the lawsuit on Sunday 16 December, said Basim Elkara, executive director of CAIR Sacramento.
Ms Swileh received a visa waiver from the state department on Tuesday 18 December and she landed in San Francisco International Airport the next day.
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A lawyer with CAIR Sacramento said: “With their courage, this family has inspired our nation to confront the realities of Donald Trump’s Muslim Ban.
“In his short life, Abdullah has been a guiding light for all of us in the fight against xenophobia and family separation.”
Abdullah’s funeral was on Saturday 29 December at the California Islamic Center, and he was buried at the California Islamic Cemetery.
