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.
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