Feds: Vietnamese brothers can come to US to save brother

SAN FRANCISCO – Federal officials who barred two Vietnamese brothers from coming to the U.S. to provide bone-marrow transplants that could save another sibling’s life have reversed that decision.

The San Francisco Chronicle says authorities agreed Tuesday to let Lam Le and Hiep Nguyen travel to the U.S. to see their brother, Tu Le.

The 63-year-old Le is a U.S. citizen living in San Jose. He has a form of blood cancer. His daughter says without a transplant, he’d have only weeks to live.

Le couldn’t find a suitable bone marrow match on national registries. Tests determined that his brothers were perfect genetic matches but federal officials refused to grant them temporary visas this month, saying there was no proof they’d return to Vietnam.

Congress members from California stepped in to help.