One of the most outrageous parts of Donald Trump’s ban on citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries traveling or emigrating to this country is how it has torn families apart. To hear Trump information minister Kellyanne Conway spin it, though, breaking up families is just “a small price to pay” for preventing the next terrorist attack.
Perhaps Conway would change her tune if she had the chance to talk to the family of an Iraqi Yazidi boy who needs surgery in the wake of being horribly burned in a refugee camp. However, thanks to Trump’s executive order, his parents can’t come to be with him.
Dilbreen was only a year and a half old when a heater exploded at his refugee camp. He is now in danger of losing his eyesight as a result of his injuries. WBZ-TV in Boston has more details; watch here.
With the help of the British relief organization Road to Peace, Dilbreen and his father were rushed to Boston for preliminary reconstructive surgery on his face. Soon afterward, his father, Ajeel, went back to Iraq to be with his wife for the birth of their second son. They named him “Trump” because he was born just an hour before most outlets declared Trump president-elect on November 8.
Dilbreen was due to go in for further surgery on February 5 at Boston’s Shriners Hospital. Road to Peace scrambled to get his parents to the United States for the surgery. However, the baby’s visa was denied twice, and the parents’ visas were revoked by Christmas. Just when they were restarting the process of getting Ajeel, his wife, and their younger son to the United States, Trump signed his executive order and brought everything to a screeching halt.
When Sally Becker of Road to Peace found out that Dilbreen’s family had been caught in the crossfire, she was horrified. In a colossal understatement, she told The Independent that it would be far too traumatic for such a young boy to go through surgery as extensive as what Dilbreen needs without his family on hand. She thinks Trump doesn’t know or doesn’t understand that this is a matter of life and death for a number of children in Dilbreen’s situation.
“This issue has been turned into a political football. It’s not just about one little boy. There are many other children who will die if they don’t get treated. It’s just awful.”
Becker was referring to the numerous other children who can’t get critical–and in some cases, vital–medical care thanks to this misbegotten order.
Dilbreen is currently staying with a family in Michigan while his lawyers scramble to get the waivers needed for his family to come for the surgery. It is simply appalling that this step even has to be taken. But then again, that’s what happens when your chief strategist can’t be bothered to check with the people who will enforce these orders before placing them on Trump’s desk. Had such consultation took place, it’s very likely that someone at the State or Homeland Security departments would have seen the need to allow for situations like this.
Even if this order is 100 percent constitutional–and all indications are that it isn’t–this episode is more proof that it is 1,000 percent wrong.
(featured image courtesy Road to Peace via The Independent)
