‘This evening we were pleased to learn that the federal government has now granted Fatemeh Reshad and her family boarding documents to come to the United States,’ Cuomo said in a statement.
Four-month-old Fatemeh and her family were sent back to Iran from Dubai as they attempted to travel to the US last Saturday, CNN reported, following President Donald Trump's executive order banning the entry of travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries.
The family was scheduled to meet with doctors in Portland, Oregon, where they have relatives.
‘Bizarrely, the federal ban would prevent this child from receiving medical care and literally endanger her life. It is repugnant to all we believe as Americans and as members of the human family,’ Cuomo said.
Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan has offered to perform the surgery at no cost to the family, the governor said, while a law firm was taking care of all their travel expenses.
According to CNN, doctors in Tehran had told the family last month that Fatemeh has structural abnormalities and two holes in her heart, but they didn't have the resources to treat her.
Cuomo called the family's situation ‘one of the most unfortunate and egregious’ caused by the government's ‘misguided immigration policy.’