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\n However, the Trump administration said in a court filing Thursday Gyasi \u201cadmitted under oath \u2026 her intent was not to leave the United States to return to Ghana\u201d and as a result, she was not able to enter the US on the tourist visa.\n <\/p>\n
\n After an immigration judge denied her asylum request Wednesday, making it virtually impossible for Gyasi and her son to remain in the country, her legal team said its main concern now is her well-being during what has turned into an indefinite layover.\n <\/p>\n
\n Gyasi\u2019s case is among the latest to be challenged in a federal court system struggling to keep up<\/a> with the administration\u2019s aggressive moves to maximize the number of immigrants removed from the US and increase vetting of visitors on nonimmigrant visas<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n Woman and son came for a medical appointment, attorneys say<\/p>\n \n Gyasi, 38, came to the United States on a tourist visa after getting an appointment for her son at the Akron Children\u2019s Hospital to be evaluated for possible surgery to address severe physical abnormalities affecting his fingers on both hands, the petition states. They\u2019d traveled to the US for treatment two years earlier, but Gyasi was told her child was too young for surgery at the time. Their tourist visas expire in 2028, the petition states.\n <\/p>\n \n Instead of being able to board her connecting flight to Ohio, the Ghanaian citizen \u2013 who is four and a half months pregnant \u2013 and her son were \u201clocked in a holding room\u201d at the airport and \u201cdenied adequate food and medical care,\u201d her petition said.\n <\/p>\n \n They were taken into custody after Gyasi \u201cdisclosed her fear of returning to Ghana based on the persecution she and her son faced,\u201d when being questioned at US Customs, according to the allegations in the document.\n <\/p>\n \n Gyasi, who is a teacher, told authorities her mother \u201cis a traditional priest and when she saw my child as a baby and his disability, she said I should kill him,\u201d according to a government transcript of her statement to an immigration officer.\n <\/p>\n \n Gyasi \u201cclaimed a fear of returning to Ghana, received a credible fear interview from an asylum officer, and review of that negative credible fear determination by an Immigration Judge, who affirmed the asylum officer\u2019s determination. And thus, her expedited removal order stands ready to be executed through her removal to Ghana,\u201d the government wrote in the court filing.\n <\/p>\n \n The mother was hospitalized twice over the past week, initially for lightheadedness and then for vaginal bleeding, the petition said, which doctors said was due to high stress and high blood pressure. The medical staff was also \u201cconcerned that she was not eating enough and fed her. They even gave her food to take back with her,\u201d her attorneys allege in the court document.\n <\/p>\n \n She told officials she and her son are not familiar with the food in the US, and it is making her sick and weak, according to a transcript in the court documents.\n <\/p>\n \n Four days after her arrival \u2013 and after repeated requests for more food \u2013 the petition said Gyasi agreed to be deported, \u201cfearing that she might lose her unborn child.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cBecause I\u2019m pregnant, I am getting weaker and weaker by the day,\u201d she told a CBP officer, according to the official transcript.\n <\/p>\n \n Her son had \u201cspent much of the day crying because of his hunger pains,\u201d and CBP officers allegedly denied her request to purchase food, \u201csaying she could only access the food they gave her,\u201d the petition said.\n <\/p>\n \n But after she initially agreed to drop her asylum request, officers \u201coffered to get her whatever food she wanted\u201d and let her and her son shower for the first time since their detention,\u201d according to her petition.\n <\/p>\n \n Gyasi\u2019s attorneys said her agreement for self-deportation was prompted by \u201cdesperation for the health and well-being\u201d of her son and her unborn child and that she did \u201cnot wish to relinquish their asylum claims.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThese windowless rooms were never designed for long-term detention,\u201d said Eden Heilman, Gyasi\u2019s lead attorney with ACLU of Virginia.\n <\/p>\n \n The Department of Homeland Security said the allegations of mistreatment \u201care false.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cEveryone in CBP custody, including this individual, has access to appropriate care, including medical evaluation by a doctor, medication, and food,\u201d a DHS spokesperson told CNN Thursday. \u201cThe individual is currently in CBP custody at Washington Dulles International Airport and will remain in custody pending her immigration hearing.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Gyasi said in a statement to immigration authorities under oath she had been researching the possibility of claiming asylum \u201cfor the past 2 years\u201d after officers examined her phone and found a history of searches on the topic, a CBP officer wrote, adding she had also considered asylum in Canada and Australia.\n <\/p>\n \n Her attorneys argue she is being punished for her honesty.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIf she did not disclose the fear that she was having about persecution in her country, she could have still entered on the tourist visas,\u201d Heilman told CNN. \u201cUnfortunately, because she was honest and shared her concerns, that\u2019s what funneled her into this separate asylum-seeker category.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The government\u2019s response says an immigration judge has already denied Gyasi\u2019s request for asylum, and the government \u201cwould begin the process of executing the order to remove Petitioners to Ghana,\u201d but did not indicate how long that process might take.\n <\/p>\n \n District Judge Leonie Brinkema, a Clinton nominee<\/a> to the federal bench, blocked the government from moving Gyasi and her son outside of her jurisdiction while the case is pending and ordered a hearing on Friday to determine the next steps.\n <\/p>\n \n The Trump administration has repeatedly moved other detainees hundreds of miles<\/a> from where they were arrested, complicating their legal cases.\n <\/p>\n \n Gyasi\u2019s attorneys say CBP agents seemed to be focused on the fact she was pregnant when they first took her into custody, and they believe it is in response to President Donald Trump\u2019s push to end birthright citizenship<\/a>, under which children born in the US are automatically American citizens.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cShe is just one of a number of pregnant people who\u2019ve been detained in shocking numbers in the wake of President Trump\u2019s executive order trying to end birthright citizenship \u2013 and it has to stop,\u201d ACLU attorney Sophia Gregg said in a statement<\/a> Wednesday.\n <\/p>\n \n Immigration and Customs Enforcement policy<\/a> dating back to the Obama administration says pregnant women should not be detained unless there are \u201cextraordinary circumstances\u201d requiring it.\n <\/p>\n \n That policy was rescinded<\/a> a year ago by acting CBP commissioner Pete Flores, saying it and other policies regarding vulnerable detainees were \u201ceither obsolete or misaligned with current Agency guidance and immigration enforcement policies.\u201d But the Trump administration has not changed a policy<\/a> that says, \u201cDetainees should generally not be held for longer than 72 hours in CBP hold rooms or holding facilities.\u201d\n <\/p>\n