Visa that could save girl's life denied

NEWARK, N.J., Nov. 28 (UPI) -- U.S. officials denied a visa to an El Salvador girl to come to the United States to donate bone marrow that could save her sister's life, a lawyer says.

"We're sure that, once the government has all the facts, it will recognize the seriousness of the situation," Marian Habib, a lawyer representing the family of 5-year-old Elizabeth, N.J., resident Yarelis Bonilla, told The (Newark) Star-Ledger.

One of Yarelis' doctors said she suffers a "very high-risk acute lymphocytic leukemia," while a report from the pediatrics department at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center says the disease is "life-threatening and extremely serious" and the girl's "best chance at survival" is a bone-marrow transplant from a donor who is a perfect match.

Yarelis' 7-year-old sister, Gisselle, is a perfect match for the transplant, but lives in El Salvador and has twice been denied a visa by the U.S. embassy to travel to the United States to help Yarelis, who is a U.S. citizen, The Star-Ledger said.

Habib, a lawyer with the American Friends Service Committee in Newark, said she is filing a petition this week and the U.S. embassy in El Salvador must be convinced Yarelis' life is in danger and her sister will return to El Salvador when the operation is complete and she's well enough to travel.

"It is truly an emergency," Habib said. "This is a race against time."

"There is often a fear, in cases like this, that the recipient of the visa will not return home," said Kerlyn Espinal, the immigration services director for U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J.

Espinal said the State Department reviewed the case at the senator's request but denied the visa. Menendez is supporting the petition Habib is filing.

The State Department did not return calls seeking comment, The Star-Ledger said.