Woman who married into ISIS dealt setback in plea to return
WASHINGTON – A federal court ruled Monday that Hoda Muthana, a woman who fled Alabama in 2014 to marry an Islamic State fighter in Syria, does not deserve special treatment as part of her quest to return to the United States with her 18-month-old son.
The ruling means her case will not be fast-tracked, something her lawyer had requested.
The Trump administration has barred Muthana, 24, and her son from returning to the U.S., contesting her claim to citizenship in a move that, if successful, could have serious and far-reaching implications for American citizens all over the world.
Charles Swift, an attorney for the Muthana family, argued in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., that she was in a “precarious position” in Syria and needed to be returned with her son to the U.S. to avoid “dangerous conditions.”
Muthana’s family wanted her case to be expedited, and Swift raised the prospect that she could be “recaptured” or killed by the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. But Judge Reggie Walton said there was no concrete evidence that Muthana would face “irreparable harm” if her case was not fast-tracked.
The case will now proceed at a normal pace, although Walton seemed favorable to the legal arguments made by the Muthana family’s attorneys.
“The judge’s comments certainly foreshadow the ultimate outcome of this case,” Swift told reporters after Monday’s hearing. He said he was “very encouraged” the case would be resolved in Muthana’s favor.
Hoda’s father, Ahmed Ali Muthana – a former diplomat at the United Nations for Yemen who is a naturalized U.S. citizen – filed the lawsuit earlier this month seeking to overturn the Trump administration’s determination that Muthana was never an American citizen in the first place, thus denying her right to re-enter the country.
Muthana joined the Islamic State after telling her parents she was going to Atlanta as part of a field trip connected with her studies at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Instead, she withdrew from college and used her tuition reimbursement to purchase a plane ticket to Turkey. She traveled from there to Syria.
In Syria, she twice married Islamic State fighters who later died in combat. In December of last year, she fled to a refugee camp, as the Islamic State lost control of its territory in Syria and Iraq.
While in Syria, Muthana called for the death of Americans on social media and spread propaganda about the militant group. Now, she says she was brainwashed, has expressed remorse and is willing to face the U.S. justice system and serve jail time.
Swift said her renunciation of the Islamic State has put her in danger within the refugee camp. He said she has already been moved to a new camp but still faces threats.
“Within these camps are ISIS supporters” who now view her as a heretic who must be killed, the attorney said. “So she faces significant danger from them.”
But the judge said there was too much speculation – about the situation in Syria and Muthana’s status in the refugee camp – to justify speeding up the case.
The government now has about two months to respond to the underlying questions presented in the family’s lawsuit, which turn on when Ahmed Ali Muthana lost his diplomatic immunity and whether his daughter is a U.S. citizen. Swift said he expects Walton will issue his ruling in a matter of months.
The Trump administration has determined Muthana, who was born in New Jersey, never qualified for U.S. citizenship because her father was a diplomat at the time of her birth. A person born in the U.S. to a foreign diplomat is not subject to U.S. law and is also not automatically a U.S. citizen at birth, according to the Immigration and Nationality Act.