Trump bars US-born woman who joined ISIS from returning
WASHINGTON US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he is barring a former propagandist of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) from returning home, making the case that she is not a US citizen.
Mr Trump's refusal to admit Ms Hoda Muthana, 24, comes as he chastises European allies that have not taken back their own ISIS fighters caught in Syria, where he plans to withdraw US troops.
Mr Trump said on Twitter he has "instructed" Secretary of State Mike Pompeo "not to allow Muthana back into the country".
"Ms Hoda Muthana is not a US citizen and will not be admitted into the US. She does not have any legal basis, no valid US passport, no right to a passport, nor any visa to travel to the US," Mr Pompeo said.
He did not elaborate on the legal rationale for not considering the woman, who had travelled to Syria on her US passport, a US citizen. But in one loophole, her father had been a diplomat from Yemen - and children of diplomats are not automatically granted citizenship.
Ms Muthana's lawyer, Mr Hassan Shilby, produced a birth certificate that showed she was born in New Jersey in 1994 and said her father had ceased being a diplomat "months and months" before her birth.
"She is a US citizen. She had a valid passport. She may have broken the law and, if she has, she is willing to pay the price," Mr Shilby told AFP.
He said Ms Muthana wanted due process and was willing to go to prison if convicted. "We cannot get to a point where we simply strip citizenship from those who break the law. That is not what America is about." - AFP
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