The American Human Rights (AHRC-USA) salutes all sister human rights organizations that advocated for the granting of a Travel Ban waiver to Mrs. Shaima Swileh, the mother of Abdullah, a dying two year old US citizen child of a Yemeni American father.
AHRC also appreciates the efforts of all media outlets that focused on this humanitarian compelling case to highlight the difficulties Yemenis and others are experiencing due to the Travel Ban. Yemen is one of the countries that is included in President Trump’s Travel Ban. The pretext for the Ban is national security.
In making its case for the constitutionality of the Travel Ban, the US government stated that there are waivers to the Travel Ban that would be granted in special cases. The State department website states that visas would be granted despite the Ban when “issuance is in the national interest, the applicant poses no national security or public safety threat to the United States, and denial of the visa would cause undue hardship.” The case of Shaima Swileh raises serious questions about visa processing and the factors taken into account in deciding to grant or deny waivers.
Immigration lawyers have reported that the government has been very reluctant to grant waivers even in compelling cases such as the recent case of the Yemeni child and his mother. The Swileh case provides definite proof that while the waiver exists in theory, in application it is not available. Any reasonable person would think that granting a waiver to the mother of a very sick child does not need lobbying of the human rights community and the glare of media interest and attention to be granted. AHRC continues to call on the Trump administration to rescind the Ban and on the Congress to pass legislation to override the Travel Ban.
“It is one thing to talk about the Muslim Ban in theory, quite another to see it in action with the compelling case of Shaima Swileh and her two-year old son, ” said Imad Hamad, AHRC Executive Director. “The Muslim Ban is unjust and unconscionable in how it is affecting innocent relatives of American citizens,” added Hamad. “The time to end this injustice is today,” concluded Hamad.
To read more, visit: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/18/us/yemen-mom-travel-ban-dying-son.html