Fatemah is a four-month-old with a heart condition that can only be fixed through surgery. Skeptical of the quality of care in Iran, Fatemah's family made plans to have it performed in Oregon, but were turned away thanks to Donald Trump's recent executive order temporarily barring entry to the United States for citizens of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, and Somalia, including refugees.
Fatemah's uncle, Sam Taghizadeh, is a U.S. citizen, and told KPTV that Fatemah needs the open-heart surgery "as soon as possible," and that they had arranged everything perfectly so the travel would go smoothly.
"Everything was okay. They asked for a lot of paperwork. She got the appointment, February 5 in the morning," Taghizadeh said. "For getting the visa, they ask for lot of the paperwork. You have to do many things, you know. For three weeks we working for every single thing they wanted."
However, when the family flew to Dubai to apply for a U.S. tourist visa, they were turned away.
"All the paper, everything was ready, and just in the last minute they canceled everything," Taghizadeh said.
Panicking, Taghizadeh did everything he could think of, calling and sending emails but getting no response. The family doesn't know how to move forward from here. The surgery has to be conducted as soon as possible, and every delay like this could be detrimental to Fatemah's health.
"It's like a nightmare," Taghizadeh said. "You know, in the one night everything changes. Now you don't know what you're going to do."
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