They Flew in for Hospital Visit, Have Been Held for a Week

A Ghanaian woman who says she came to the US on a valid tourist visa so her 4-year-old son could see a medical specialist now finds herself in immigration lockup outside Washington, DC. The ACLU says 38-year-old Anabella Gyasi, who is pregnant, has been "illegally detained" with her son for more than a week in a windowless room at Washington Dulles International Airport after Customs and Border Protection officers questioned her on arrival May 19. When Gyasi said she feared returning to Ghana because of stigma surrounding her son's disability, agents treated her as an asylum seeker and moved to cancel her visa, her lawyers say, per the Washington Post.

In an emergency court filing, the ACLU describes a makeshift cell with one bed, a toilet and sink, and says Gyasi has twice been sent to the hospital—once for stress-related bleeding and once for lightheadedness, with staff worried she wasn't being given ample food. The ACLU alleges agents denied Gyasi's request to purchase food for herself and her son, but after getting her to sign a voluntary deportation order, granted her any food she wanted, WUSA reports.

The group argues CBP is violating the law and endangering her pregnancy, and is asking a federal judge to order her release so her son can get care at Akron Children's Hospital in Ohio. According to the filing, Gyasi and her son visited the hospital two years ago to address a disability affecting his hands, but were told he was too young for corrective surgery at that time. Homeland Security disputes the allegations, saying all detainees receive medical care, food, and medication, and that Gyasi will remain in custody until her immigration hearing. A judge has ordered officials to justify her detention by Thursday morning.