Donald Trump’s so-called ‘muslim ban’ has prevented a four-month-old baby girl from entering the United States for urgent heart surgery.
Little Fatemah, who has a serious heart condition, and her family were due to fly to the United States to attend a surgical consultation at Oregon Health Science University hospital. However, according to KPTV, the Iranian family were not allowed to enter the US because of President Trump’s executive order on immigration.
Fatemah’s uncle, Sam Taghizadeh, said that the family chose to fly her to the US in order to access higher-quality medical services,
“Over there it’s a very high risk because that is open heart surgery. She needs the surgery as soon as possible.”
Although all the necessary paperwork for tourist visas had been filed, and despite the fact that her grandparents and uncle are American citizens, the family were told they couldn’t finish their trip when they landed in Dubai. Taghizadeh, who has lived in the US for thirteen years, said the experience has been like a nightmare,
“Everything was okay. For getting the visa, they ask for a lot of the paperwork. You have to do many things, you know. For three weeks we working for every single thing they wanted. All the paper, everything was ready, and just in the last minute they cancelled everything.”
The desperate family have repeated Fatemah’s doctor’s statement that she requires surgery urgently,
“They cannot wait, you know. Even I asked, can they wait a couple other years? They said no. This thing has to be as soon as possible. It’s like a nightmare. You know, in the one night everything changes. Now you don’t know what you’re going to do.
Why we came to US, we came here for freedom. For a better life. I’m feeling nowhere is safe.”
