Pompeo says Alabama woman who joined ISIL can’t return to US

An woman who left Alabama to join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group in Syria is not a US citizen and will not be allowed to return to the United States, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday.

In a brief statement that gave no details as to how the determination was reached, Pompeo said Hoda Muthana, who says she made a mistake in joining the group and now wants to return with her 18-month-old son, has no “legal basis” to claim American citizenship.

“Ms Hoda Muthana is not a US citizen and will not be admitted into the United States,” Pompeo said. “She does not have any legal basis, no valid US passport, no right to a passport nor any visa to travel to the United States.” 

Muthana’s status had been considered by lawyers from the departments of state and justice since her case arose, according to one US official who was not authorised to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. In speaking to the Associated Press, the official would not elaborate but said Pompeo’s statement was based on the lawyers’ conclusions.

A lawyer for the Muthana’s family, Hassan Shibly, said the administration’s position was based on a “complicated” interpretation of the law involving her father. 

“They’re claiming her dad was a diplomat when she was born, which, in fact, he wasn’t,” Shibly told The Associated Press.

Muthana was born in 1994 in Hackensack, New Jersey, the lawyer said.

Most people born in the US are accorded so-called birthright citizenship but there are exceptions.

Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, a person born in the US to a foreign diplomatic officer is not subject to US law and is not automatically considered a US citizen at birth.

ISIL regrets

The 24-year-old, who joined the ISIL says she regrets aligning herself with the armed group and wants to return to the US, Shibly said on Tuesday. He said Muthana was putting herself at risk by speaking out against ISIL from a refugee camp where she has lived since fleeing the group a few weeks ago. 

Muthana, who dodged sniper fire and roadside bombs to escape, is ready to pay the penalty for her actions but wants freedom and safety for the son she had with one of two ISIL fighters she wed, he said. Both men were killed in combat. The New York Times reported Muthana also married and divorced a third husband in Syria.

In a handwritten letter released by Shibly, Muthana wrote that she made “a big mistake” by rejecting her family and friends in the US to join ISIL.

“During my years in Syria I would see and experience a way of life and the terrible effects of war which changed me,” she wrote.

After fleeing her home in suburban Birmingham in late 2014 and resurfacing in Syria, Muthana used social media to advocate violence against the US. In the letter, Muthana wrote that she didn’t understand the importance of freedoms provided by the US at the time.

“To say that I regret my past words, any pain that I caused my family and any concerns I would cause my country would be hard for me to really express properly,” the letter said.

Shibly said Muthana was brainwashed online before she left Alabama and now could have valuable intelligence for US forces, but he said the FBI didn’t seem interested in retrieving her from the refugee camp where she is living with her son. 

Muthana’s father would welcome the woman back, Shibly said, but she is not on speaking terms with her mother.

Ashfaq Taufique, who knows Muthana’s family and is president of the Birmingham Islamic Society, said the woman could be a valuable resource for teaching young people about the dangers of online radicalisation were she allowed to return to the US.

“Her coming back could be a very positive thing for our community and our country,” Taufique said.