Four years ago, she was just a normal college student like you and me. However, her decision to spend all of her tuition money on a one-way ticket to Turkey to join the Islamic state abruptly halted that average student life.
While the former student’s parents thought she was attending a school related trip, Hoda Muthana was in the process of joining Isis. She was soon to be married to three Islamic State fighters and see executions first hand, that had once enticed her recruitment over the internet. She spent some time aiding the group and urging attacks in the West. Now, after the militant group has been driven out of Syria, she says she fully regrets her decision in joining the caliphate and wants to return home.
The Alabama native woman is being denied re-admittance by President Trump into the United States. Mike Pompeo, the United State’s Secretary of State, says Ms. Muthana is not considered a U.S. citizen. She currently does not hold a U.S. passport, since it has been revoked by the U.S. However, it is up for debate whether the government had the jurisdiction to do so. Under certain circumstances, the government can retract someone’s citizen after acts of treason, but Ms. Muthana’s oath to her alliance with Isis is said to not be enough.
Currently, after surrendering to an alliance of fighters against Isis, she is being held under their custody in a refugee camp. She is one of at least 13 identified Americans facing similar issues while being detained under Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria.