Severely burned Iraqi boy alone in U.S. after travel ban
Among those affected by President Trump’s travel ban is a badly burned Iraqi boy who has been separated from his family, CBS Boston reported.
The family was staying at an Iraqi refugee camp last summer when a heater exploded, severely burning the son, Dilbreen. Dilbreen and his father were able to travel to the U.S. for medical care, but the father returned to Iraq to be with his wife as she gave birth.
Their second son was born November 8 — Election Day in the United States — and the report by CBS Boston said the boy was named “Trump.”
Dilbreen will soon have surgery again, and his family was supposed to travel to the U.S. to stay at the House of Peace in Ipswich, near Boston, a facility providing “a temporary home for child victims of war and their families while they receive medical treatment.” But after the executive order was signed Friday, the family’s visas were revoked.
When called for comment, the House of Peace directed Yahoo News to Shriners Hospital for Children in Boston, where Dilbreen had preliminary surgery upon his arrival in the U.S. In a statement, Shriners confirmed a child arrived from an Iraqi refugee camp with his father for treatment in August 2016 and that his father made arrangements for the boy to stay in the U.S. while he returned to Iraq.
“At this time, Shriners Hospitals for Children is unaware of the current immigration status of the parents,” the statement continued. “Shriners Hospitals for Children remains ready to help with this child’s continued medical needs.”
Massachusetts recently joined a federal lawsuit challenging Trump’s executive order, which temporarily denies entry to immigrants and visitors from seven countries, all of them majority-Muslim: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
The CBS Boston report said Dilbreen has another surgery scheduled for Feb. 5, but it’s unclear whether the rest of his family will be able to join him in the U.S.
About the parents’ reportedly choosing to name their second baby after the then-president-elect, Carrie Schuchardt, a House of Peace employee, told CBS Boston, “It’s ironic, perhaps humorous. But it’s also in a way very meaningful because perhaps that child can redeem that name Trump.”
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