A pregnant asylum seeker has been held in a windowless detention room with her disabled four-year-old son at Washington Dulles Airport for more than a week without access to adequate food, hygience and medical care, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has claimed in a court case to fight for her release.
Anabella Gyasi, who is four and a half months pregnant, arrived at Dulles on May 19 after traveling to the United States from her native Ghana in West Africa. Anabella had a valid tourist visa to enter the United States with the intention of taking her son for treatment at the Akron Children’s Hospital in Ohio.
But Customs and Border Protection (CBP) claims Anabella admitted under oath that she traveled to the United States in order to claim asylum and had no intention of returning to Ghana after her son had received his medical treatment.
According to the ACLU, Anabella is fearful that she will be in danger if she returns to Ghana, but an asylum officer made a “negative credible fear determination” and ordered Anabella and her son to be detained.
Since her arrival on May 19, Anabella and her son have been held in a windowless room at the airport, which has just one bed and one toilet.
Court proceedings were filed by attorneys acting on behalf of Anabella on May 26 in an attempt to secure the pair’s release and allow them to travel to Akron for her son’s medical treatment.
A Virginia district court has ordered CBP not to commence the removal process while court proceedings are still underway, with an emergency hearing scheduled to take place on Friday morning.
According to the ACLU, Anabella first traveled to the United States with her son two years ago to seek treatment for her son’s disability, which limits the use of his hands. Physicians said he would require surgery, but, at the time, he was too young to undergo the procedure.
The ACLU believes that Anabella has been wrongly deemed an asylum seeker because of a screening process in force at Dulles that is designed to detect visa holders who may try to claim asylum once they are permitted entry.
Anabella was asked if she feared persecution if she were to return to Ghana, to which she replied, “Yes.”
The ACLU doesn’t dispute the fact that Anabella might have claimed asylum once she was permitted entry to the United States, but rather how she is now being treated.
“If she had just gone ahead with her visa, and then, while she was in Ohio, for example, filled out her asylum stuff online, she wouldn’t be going through what she is currently going through,” commented Eden Heilman, the ACLU’s legal director for Virginia.
“She was honest, and that’s what triggered this situation,” Heilman added.
Once in detention, the ACLU claims that Anabella was denied adequate food, resulting in a trip to the hospital when she started to complain of lightheadedness. On her release, she told CBP officers that she would rather be deported than not fed, over fears she might suffer a miscarriage.
By May 24, Anabella signed a document saying she agreed to be deported, but the ACLU argues that this signature was provided under duress.
Customs and Border Protection has refuted the claims made by the ACLU, with a spokesperson explaining: “Everyone in CBP custody, including this individual, has access to appropriate care, including medical evaluation by a doctor, medication, and food.”
The statement added: “The individual is currently in CBP custody at Washington Dulles International Airport and will remain in custody pending her immigration hearing.”
The court hearing on Friday will determine whether CBP is allowed to continue deportation proceedings while Anabella and her son are held in custody or whether they should be released.
Should she win the right to be allowed entry into the U.S., Anabella intends to apply for asylum, the ACLU has confirmed.
This was wrong, she should have been refused entry following the interview and returned to Ghana. Problem solved.1210