A 4-month-old Iranian girl in need of heart surgery has been unable to travel to Oregon for the procedure due to the immigration ban put in place by President Donald Trump last week barring immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries, her uncle said.
The infant, whose name is Fatemah, was diagnosed with a heart condition and told she needed surgery. Doctors in Iran did not have the equipment needed for the procedure, so her parents turned to Oregon Health & Science University, one of the top hospitals in the country for pediatric heart surgery, her uncle, Samad Taghizadeh, told KATU News.
“They said ‘this is a miracle, we don’t know how she had lived with the big problem she had.’ Immediately she has to do the surgery,” Taghizadeh told the station.
Taghizadeh lives in Portland with Fatemah’s grandparents, all of whom are U.S. Citizens, KATU reported, and he helped translate all the necessary paperwork to secure a visa for the young girl, which was approved.
Fatemah was set to meet with doctors in Portland on Feb. 5 and began her journey to the U.S. on Saturday. The family flew first to Dubai, but it was there they learned that they would be unable to continue their trip as Iran was on the list from which travel has been barred by Trump’s executive order.
“I got the email and everything was canceled, we were shocked,” Taghizadeh said. “I tried to call and send email (but) no one called back.”
He was told to reapply for a visa in 90 days when the executive order expires, but he told KATU he’s not sure Fatemah has that long.
The hospital did not immediately respond for comment on the situation.
— Kale Williams
kwilliams@oregonian.com
503-294-4048
@sfkale
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