Father of American Islamic State bride Hoda Muthana sues over her citizenship denial
- ‘She may have been born here. She is not a US citizen, nor is she entitled to US citizenship,’ according to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
The father of an Alabama woman who joined Islamic State in Syria sued on Thursday to get her home after the Trump administration took the extraordinary step of declaring she was not a US citizen.
Hoda Muthana, 24, said she regrets joining the extremists and is willing to face prosecution in the United States over her incendiary propaganda on behalf of the ruthless but dwindling group.
A day after US President Donald Trump declared on Twitter that he had issued orders to bar her, Muthana’s father filed an emergency lawsuit asking a federal court to affirm that his daughter is a US citizen and let her return along with her toddler son, whose father was a Tunisian extremist killed in battle.
The brewing legal battle hinges on the murky timeline of bureaucratic paperwork in 1994 when Muthana was born and her father, Ahmed Ali Muthana, left a position at Yemen’s mission to the United Nations.
The US Constitution grants citizenship to everyone born in the country – with the exception of children of diplomats, as they are not under US jurisdiction.