Mom granted visa to visit dying 2-year-old son at Children’s Hospital Oakland

A Yemeni mother was granted a visa early Tuesday to travel to the Bay Area from Egypt so that she can be at her dying son’s bedside at an Oakland hospital.

But she is in a race against time.

Basim Elkarra, executive director of Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Sacramento Valley chapter, said Shaima Swileh will get on the earliest available flight out of Egypt. But the journey will take her at least 20 hours or more.

“We are happy that she can kiss and hold her son one last time,” CAIR’s attorney Saad Sweilem told reporters.

Swileh, a Yemeni national, has been prevented from coming to the U.S. by the Trump administration travel ban for people from several mostly Muslim-majority countries. Her husband, Stockton resident Ali Hassan, is a U.S. citizen.

When the boy fell gravely ill from a genetic brain condition with his mother in Egypt, Hassen flew him the Bay Area on Oct. 1st so American doctors could treat him. It was the last time Swileh saw him.

On Tuesday, Swileh went to the US Embassy in Cairo, where her I-130 “Petition for Alien Relative” was approved.

“We’re just so excited, unfortunately even with this win, it’s still a loss,” Elkarra told CNN. “At least she’ll come and be able to mourn with dignity, and see her son get buried, and bring some closure to all the pain… We just hope she can make it in time and be with her son in his last hours.”