A pregnant Ghanaian woman and her 4-year-old son with a hand disability have been held in a windowless detention room at Washington Dulles International Airport for more than a week, the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia said in an emergency federal court petition.

Anabella Gyasi, 38, landed at Dulles on May 19 with her son, identified in court filings as G.O.O. The child was born with malformed hands. Per CNN, Gyasi had a May 30 appointment at Akron Children's Hospital in Ohio. Doctors were set to evaluate whether her son was old enough for corrective surgery that specialists previously said could not be performed when he was 2.

Instead of boarding her connecting flight to Ohio, Gyasi, who is four and a half months pregnant, and her son were locked in a holding room with a single bed and a toilet. Her lawyers say they were denied adequate food and medical care.

The detention began after Gyasi disclosed to Customs and Border Protection officers that she also feared returning to Ghana. According to a government transcript of her statement, Gyasi, a teacher, told authorities her mother is a traditional priest who saw her son as a baby and told her to kill him because of his disability.

"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," ACLU attorney Dorna Maryam Movasseghi said in a news release.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson denied the allegations. "Everyone in CBP custody, including this individual, has access to appropriate care, including medical evaluation by a doctor, medication, and food," the agency said.

On Wednesday, an immigration judge denied Gyasi's asylum request. The Trump administration filed a court motion Thursday arguing Gyasi admitted under oath she did not intend to return to Ghana, which voids her tourist visa entry. A federal judge is set to hear arguments on the case Friday.

The case is among the latest to test a federal court system overwhelmed by the Trump administration's aggressive moves to detain non-citizens and tighten visitor vetting.