The Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Muthana is not a US citizen and will not be allowed into the US. You have no valid US passport and no right to one.
The woman also does not have a visa to enter the United States. US President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter that he had told Pompeo not to let the woman back into the country. Muthana had lived in Alabama before going to Syria to join the Islamic State (IS) terrorist militia.
Her family lawyer Hassan Shibly said Muthana was born in New Jersey in 1994 and is a US citizen. He accused the government of wanting to rob her of her citizenship.
The 24-year-old is one of around 1,500 foreign women and children held by Kurds in Al-Hul refugee camp. She had spoken in an interview with British newspaper Guardian, expressing her hope of returning to the US. She was radicalized online and now regretting her decision, said the mother of an 18-month-old son.
According to her own statements, Muthana traveled via Turkey to Syria in 2014 at the then IS-stronghold Al-Rakka, where she married an Australian jihadist. When he was killed, she married a Tunisian who fell during the Battle of Mosul in northern Iraq. In 2018 she entered into a marriage with a Syrian IS fighter. In social media, Muthana propagated IS propaganda and stirred up supporters against the US. She was one of the most prominent IS agitators. She now states that others have maintained her Twitter account.
Trump had previously called on European countries like Germany to take back more than 800 IS fighters captured in Syria and bring them to justice. If the allies did not respond, the US would be forced to release the fighters. These are not in US custody, but in the hands of Kurdish forces.
