Trump ISIS wife wont be allowed to return to United States
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Hoda Muthana was born in New Jersey. She wants to come home and face the U.S. justice system, her familys lawyer tells USA TODAY.
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WASHINGTON ľ President Donald Trump said Wednesday that an American woman who was the bride of an Islamic State fighter and now wants to come home will not be allowed back in the United States.
I have instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and he fully agrees, not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the Country! Trump wrote on Twitter.
Muthana traveled to Syria and marriedáand hadáa child with an ISIS fighter and now wants to face the U.S. justice system.
But Pompeo said earlier Wednesday that Muthanaáis not an American citizen and "does not have any legal basis, no valid U.S. passport, no right to a passport," contradictingástatements by her familyáand her Florida based lawyer, who said she was born ináHackensack, New Jersey, in 1994.á
I have instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and he fully agrees, not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the Country!
Muthana, who was raised in Alabama, left the United Statesáto join ISISáfour years ago at ageá19. In Syria, she called for Americans to be attacked, and she spread the groupsápropaganda online.á
She is one of aboutá ľ the spouses and children of Islamic State militants ľáheld in a Kurdish run detention camp in northern Syria.á
Muthana is there with her 18 month old son.The childs father is not alive. Two of her previous husbands, both Islamic State militants, are also dead. Muthana is not allowed to leave the camp and has armed guards protecting her from Islamic State sympathizers.áShe is asking to be allowed to return to the U.S. to face due process.á
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"The government needs to engage with her, but not just her;áall of these people who joined ISIS" from the West, saidáHassan Shibly,áMuthanas lawyer.á
"If sheábroke the law, then the justice system can deal with her, and if she didnt break the law, she should come back anyway, so it can be determined if she is a threat."
This undated image provided by attorney Hassan Shibly shows Hoda Muthana, an Alabama woman who left home to join the Islamic State after becoming radicalized online. Muthana realized she was wrong and now wants to return to the United States, Shibly, a lawyer for her family said Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2019. Photo11: AP
Shibly said Muthana has realized she made a mistake in movingáto Syria andáwants to return to the USAáto face justice and "pay any debts she has to society." He said she wants to speak out against the Islamic State and help de radicalize other Americans.
Muthana abandoned her family and fled to Syria iná2014, a year after she graduated from high school. She briefly studied at the University of Alabama Birmingham.
Shibly shared a letteráMuthana wrote this week in which she describedáherselfáas "naive, angry and arrogant" when she decided to journey to Syria.á
"During my years in Syria, I would see and experience a way of life and the terrible effects of war, which changed me," Muthana wrote. "Seeing bloodshed up close changed me. Motherhood changed me. Seeing friends, children and the men I married dying changed me. Seeing how different a society could be compared to the beloved America I was born and raised into changed me."
Shibly, executive director of the Florida Council on American Islamic Relationsáin Tampa, said it was not clear from a legal standpoint whetheráMuthanas "marrying into ISIS" could warrant a "material support charge" to Islamic State activities, which range from terroráattacks in the USAáand Europeáto beheadings in Iraq and Syria.á
Alan Dershowitz, a former Harvard law professor, said that if he were advising Muthana, he would tell her that coming back to the USAáwould be "risky."áDershowitzátold the New York Post her case would be a "close call" even if all she did was tweet and send emails.
Muthana claimedáto have had no contact with U.S. authorities, and Shibly said she can leave the camp only if the U.S. government asks for her release. Its not clear if it has.áU.S. immigration authorities were not available to answer questions about her case, including whether a U.S. citizen can be barred from entering his or her own country.á
In a briefing, State Department spokesmanáRobert Palladinoáwould not address Muthanas specific case, but said repatriating foreign terrorist fighters to their countries of origin was theá"best solution to preventing them from returning to the battlefield."
Pompeo subsequently issued theástatement Wednesday in which he claimed that Muthana was not a U.S. citizen and would not be allowed back in.
Shibly, however, provided USA TODAYáwith a copy of Muthanas birth certificate, which lists her place of birth as Hackensack, New Jersey.
A birth certificate provided by Hoda Muthanas attorney lists her place of birth as Hackensack, N.J. Muthana traveled to Syria and married, but now wants to return to the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says shes not an American citizen. Photo11: Submitted
Steve Vladeck, a law professor at the University of Texas, said that Pompeo cant just assert that someone born in the U.S.áis not a U.S. citizen.
"I gather that the governments argument is that she was born to a diplomat who was in the United States on official business, and so was not entitled to birthright citizenship. Thats correct as a matter of law if its true, but its not true just because the government says so," he said in a Twitter message to USA TODAY.á
Only six American militants have returned from fighting or training with militant groups in Syria, according to , a Washington based foreign policy research institute.
All were taken into custody. Muthana may be the first American spouse or partner of an Islamic Stateáfighter who has sought to return home. The New York Times has reported that another woman, dual U.S. Canadian nationaláKimberly Gwen Polman, 46, is also in the al hawl refugee camp in Syria. She left Canada in 2015.á
A similar case in , 19, from London, whoágave birth to a baby boy over the weekend in the same camp where Muthana is held.
Begum, who left Britain for Syria at age 15 and married an Islamic Stateáfighter,áwants to return to Britain for the sake of her childs welfare, but British authorities, including the nations interior minister, indicated they might try to block her return. They might find that difficult to do because a British national cant theoretically be prevented from returning home unless that personáis also a national of another country. Begumáisnt.
The womans London based lawyer, Tasnime Akunjee, said Tuesday that the British governmentáinformed him that it is trying to strip Begum of her British citizenship.á
As for Muthana, "whether its a few years in jail, 20 years in jailáor no jail, shes open to the legal process, and shes not asking for a free pass, just due process," Shibly said.á
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