Enraged at the US Government

In case this cannot be inferred from previous posts, my cousin was recently diagnosed with colon cancer. Tomorrow morning she is going through surgery (I'm assuming a partial colectomy, though I don't know for sure), and she is really nervous.

My cousin lives in San Francisco. Although she has her green card, she will not obtain her US citizenship until 6 months from now. Her mother has not seen her for several years, and now a visit is understandably urgent.

My aunt has applied for her tourist Visa persistently over the past few weeks, so that she could be with her daughter during tomorrow's surgery. Unfortunately, the US government has repeatedly refused her. American officials in Mumbai told my aunt in perfect Hindi that she should wait 6 months until her daughter gets citizenship, and then =visit. My aunt's response: "But if my daughter dies, who will I visit?"

The US officials have argued that my aunt will not leave at the termination point of a 1-2 month visa, yet my aunt has no history of outstaying her visas in the past. They have argued that she is using this situation as an excuse to immigrate to the United States. How a government could interpret a daughter's potentially terminal illness so cruelly is beyond me. So far, no number of doctors' letters or pleadings are working. So now, we are hoping that the lawyers at my cousin's workplace (Microsoft) will have more success.

My aunt believes that she is being treated this way because she is a widow. I really don't know why the visa officials are on such a high horse, but frankly I am really distressed. It is an extremely low point in the history of a country, which champions justice and family values, to treat its people this way. My cousin has come to feel at home in the United States and has worked hard to make her way here; she has lived here for the past 15 years. She spent large chunks of time here without any visits home in order to earn her green card. I find it extremely tragic that she and her mother are being treated so callously in her hour of need.