Toddler whose Yemeni mother fought for a visa to visit him dies at age 2

A terminally ill toddler named Abdullah Hassan died Friday at a hospital in California. He was just 2 years old.

Hassan's story came to national attention because his mother, Shaima Swileh, was denied a visa to travel from Yemen to visit him in his final days. The boy and his father, Ali Hassan, both held American citizenship, but the Yemeni Swileh was unable to join them in the States because Yemen is among the eight nations listed in the Trump administration's revised travel ban.

With help from the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Sacramento, the family sued the State Department for a waiver. It was granted Dec. 18, and Swileh was able to see her son.

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"We are heartbroken. We had to say goodbye to our baby, the light of our lives," Ali Hassan said Friday of his son's death. "We want to thank everyone for your love and support at this difficult time. We ask you to kindly keep Abdullah and our family in your thoughts and prayers."