Hoda Muthana left America when she was 20-years-old to join ISIS in Syria and has been in a legal battle with the government ever since to return home.
Since leaving the terrorist organisation she hasn’t been allowed to return - not because she may have joined a terrorist organisation, the US actually brings those people back and puts them through the justice process - but because she was told she wasn’t an American.
This is the latest legal challenge since the Supreme Court said they wouldn't hear the case, but didn’t explain why. In the legal brief the court published it said “The government has revoked Ms.Muthana’s passport as having been erroneously obtained; it has not formally altered her citizenship status.”
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It goes on to explain how Hoda would need to prove her citizenship status. Hoda's lawyer, Christina Jump, says she's already done and sent it the Department of Justice. TNM has seen these documents.
Responding to these papers the US State of Department has said: "The Department has not changed its position with regards to Ms. Muthana’s citizenship status. Hoda Muthana is not a U.S. citizen. As the State Department determined and the courts agreed, she is not and never was a U.S. citizen. For privacy reasons, we are not able to provide further comment."
Hoda’s attorney, Christina Jump (at CLCMA) has said: “I would hope the Department of State honors its own representation to the United States Supreme Court that it did not change her citizenship status and only revoked her passport. If the Department of State no longer honors that, I look forward to the legal battle in the proper forum. Citizenship status cannot be revoked or withdrawn at whim or as a punishment, and any effort to do so endangers all American citizens.”
Considering the Supreme Court refused to hear Hoda Muthana’s case, it remains a political question and doesn’t look like much will change for her and her young son - who will remain in a prison camp.
Hoda's legal case explained:
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While she was abroad, authorities revoked her passport. Since leaving the terrorist organisation she has pleaded to come back to the US, telling The News Movement last year she would sit in prison if she needed to.
It’s slightly confusing but it all comes down to whether her father had given up his diplomatic status before or after Hoda was born. He was a UN diplomat from Yemen, one of the few jobs that does not grant birthright citizenship. Even though Hoda was born in the US, diplomats' children are not automatically given citizenship.
Although she was issued with an American birth certificate and two passports, the US government now says that was a mistake as they were notified of her father leaving his role after her birth - not making her a citizen.
Her father, Ahmed Ali Muthana argued he gave up diplomatic status before Hoda was born, making her a citizen but the US government rejected this.