Trump admin illegally holds pregnant mother and toddler with disabilities for a week at Dulles Airport

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The ACLU of Virginia filed an emergency petition in federal court last night on behalf of Anabella Gyasi, a pregnant Ghanian who has been illegally detained in a windowless holding room at Dulles Airport without access to adequate food, hygiene, or medical care with her four-year-old son since they arrived more than a week ago.

“Ms. Gyasi legally traveled to the U.S. to get necessary medical care for her son, but the illegal detention and inhumane treatment that she’s experiencing at Dulles is endangering her son’s health as well as her own,” said ACLU-VA Senior Immigrants’ Right Attorney Sophia Gregg. “She is just one of a number of pregnant people who’ve been detained in shocking numbers in the wake of President Trump’s executive order trying to end birthright citizenship – and it has to stop.”

Anabella Gyasi flew from Ghana to Dulles with her son, G.O.O., who was born with physical disabilities impacting the use of his hands. When G.O.O. was two years old, Ms. Gyasi brought him to the United States on tourist visas in hopes of securing medical treatment for him. When medical specialists told Ms. Gyasi G.O.O. was too young for corrective surgery, they returned to Ghana.

In Ghana, where Ms. Gyasi and G.O.O. faced escalating persecution based on G.O.O.’s disability, Ms. Gyasi successfully made a May 30, 2026 appointment with Akron Children’s Hospital in Ohio to evaluate whether G.O.O. is now old enough for surgery and secured tourist visas for herself and G.O.O. that expire in April 2028.

But when Ms. Gyasi landed at Dulles on May 19, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) questioned the purpose of her trip and took her and her son into custody. She and G.O.O. have been locked in a windowless room in Dulles ever since. The room has a single bed, toilet, and sink.

Neither Ms. Gyasi nor G.O.O. were given medical screenings or treatment upon their detention, and on two occasions, Ms. Gyasi was transported to a nearby hospital after she experienced vaginal bleeding and lightheadedness. Staff at the hospital confirmed her pregnancy and high blood pressure, expressed concern that she was not eating enough in detention and was over-stressed, and discharged her back to Dulles, where CBP continues to hold Ms. Gyasi and her son in dangerous conditions.

On May 23, Ms. Gyasi pleaded with CBP to allow her to purchase food for herself and her son. G.O.O. spent much of the day crying because of his hunger pain, and Ms. Gyasi was in constant fear of fainting, but CBP officers denied her plea.

Because of her concern for her unborn child, Ms. Gyasi told the officers she would prefer to be deported than denied food. She signed a deportation order – and then was told she could have whatever food she wanted, as well as a shower.

“Ms. Gyasi is following all the rules she was given – but CBP is not,” said ACLU-VA Immigrants’ Rights Attorney Dorna Maryam Movasseghi. “Ms. Gyasi secured the necessary visas for her son’s medical appointment, and by detaining them in dangerous conditions anyway, CBP is breaking the law and putting the Trump administration’s cruel anti-immigrant agenda before basic human dignity and the Constitution.”

Following President Trump’s executive order purporting to end birthright citizenship, immigration attorneys and medical professionals describe seeing a “shocking number of detained postpartum and pregnant women” in immigration detention, as one attorney told The 19th on October 20, 2025. Congressional reports have detailed abuses of pregnant women and children in Department of Homeland Security custody, including one woman who bled for days before being taken to a hospital, where she was left alone without water or medical assistance for over 24 hours while she miscarried. Officers told another woman to “just drink water” when she repeatedly requested medical attention.

“CBP has put Ms. Gyasi in an impossible position: either risk her own and the life of her unborn child to improve her young son’s life, or return home to ensure safe conditions for her pregnancy but unsafe conditions for her son,” said ACLU-VA Legal Director Eden Heilman. “No parent should ever be expected to make a choice like that.”

Last night's filing is in the Eastern District of Virginia and alleges that CBP’s actions violate Ms. Gyasi and her son’s Fifth Amendment constitutional rights as well as U.S. law. The petition calls on CBP to immediately release Ms. Gyasi and her son from custody so that they can seek necessary medical care, and stay their removal from the country until their case is heard.