A pregnant woman and her 4-year-old son, who spent more than a week confined to “a windowless room with a single bed and toilet” at Washington Dulles International Airport after arriving on tourist visas, are on a flight back to their home country of Ghana following a federal judge’s order Friday, according to the ACLU of Virginia. CNN reports
Hours before, US District Judge Leonie Brinkema stated in her order that “the welfare of the petitioners and the interests of justice are best served by allowing petitioners to return home immediately.”
Earlier, Brinkema told the US government Friday that the pregnant woman, who came to the United States from Ghana for a medical appointment for her child but also acknowledged to authorities she planned to seek asylum, must be released from the hold room at the airport before the end of the day.
“She cannot spend tonight at Dulles,” said Brinkema, a Clinton nominee to the federal bench, at a hearing in Alexandria, Virginia. “One way or another, we’re going to get her out.”
Her attorneys argued she had been held at the airport illegally, while the government said her tourist visa was not valid because Gyasi “admitted under oath … her intent was not to leave the United States to return to Ghana.”
After an immigration judge denied her asylum request on Wednesday, making it virtually impossible for Gyasi and her son to remain in the country, her legal team said its main concern was her well-being after what turned into an indefinite layover.
“We were very pleased that the judge recognized one fundamental principle, which is that human beings should not be detained under the conditions our client was being detained at Dulles Airport in a windowless room without access to appropriate food or medical care,” said Mary Bauer, executive director of the ACLU of Virginia.
