I've found the case of this woman to be fairly interesting. Muthana is a Muslim woman who grew up in Alabama and joined ISIS, marrying, eventually, three different guys, the first two who were killed. Now she wants to return to the United States and, naturally, it would seem, we have told her no. Trump even made a special tweet about it. The interesting part is her status. Is she an American citizen? She was born to Yemeni parents here in the US, but they were diplomats, so they argue she was exempt for birthright citizenship. Her family contends they were not diplomats at the time of her birth. Muthana states she was issued a US passport when she left for Syria, whereas the Trump administration says no. Seems like an easy thing to check, but ok. Clearly, under most any circumstance, a woman who decided to leave her country and family, call them both infidels worthy of destruction and join something as evil as ISIS wouldn't get a second thought as to entry into this country. However, if she is a citizen, can she be denied entry? Certainly she can't be denied due process. And, what level of involvement in ISIS would constitute the government being able to rescind her citizenship, as well? https://www.npr.org/2019/02/21/696537248/alabama-woman-joined-isis-cant-come-back-trump-says https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/20/world/middleeast/isis-bride-hoda-muthana.html
Well we did specifically drone strike a definite American citizen than joined the Taliban. This seems less extreme.
As I understand it, she married three different ISIS soldiers, had a child by one, and took part in anti-US propaganda calling for the death of US citizens. I would also think that checking the time of her birth would fairly easy to do. And a passport can and has been given out mistakenly. However, if all checks out and she is a US citizen, then she should get due process and then be put in prison for a very long time. I hope she is truly remorseful for her time in Syria, but that doesn't make up for what she did. She wasn't a child, she was 20 years old at the time. Yes, most people are still very stupid at 20, but that doesn't make everything OK.
Sort out her citizenship, if she is a citizen then she should spend the rest of her life in prison if she comes back.
I don't know, but I doubt it can be done without some kind of court hearing. But in this case, she may have voluntarily revoked it by serving with a foreign military: https://www.usa.gov/renounce-lose-citizenship
If joining a terrorist organization and moving to another country doesn't do it, there's something wrong
I read something where Pompeo cited a law that children born to working diplomats while in the country doesn't give citizenship. No idea if that is true. I understand the sentiments about her actions should result in revoked citizenship. Part of me agrees completely, but another part says that if we start revoking citizenship for truly vile anti-American actions, it could start down a slippery road. I have a hard time seeing it as a black & white call. Citizenship guarantees distinct rights & I don't take those rights lightly. I'm actually not sure what I think right now. What I do know is that her actions are beyond reprehensible, and that if she is a US citizen, she should face the full weight of the American justice system.
I can see where you're saying it's a slippery slope, and I know nothing about this person or her situation, but I'd say actively fighting against the US should at least result in citizenship being revoked, I'll even say, in my opinion, I would consider it treason maybe?
I view it as treason, for sure. We have laws to deal with traitors. We're fully capable of handling such an incident. I'm having trouble putting my feelings into words. I guess what I'm saying, admittedly quite poorly, is that any revocation of citizenship should be done through the US court system not via politicians.
This is where I'm at; the processes in place are there for a reason, frustrating as they may be at times
The 14th amendment excludes the children of diplomats (not, as Trump wants people to believe, the children of immigrants). However, this may be more complicated since I thought I read her parents were no longer diplomats at the time? In any case, Trump cannot just revoke citizenship by himself for any reason. Natural born citizens cannot have their citizenship revoked against their will under any circumstances as far as I can tell. This woman’s situation may just come down to whether she was a natural born citizen in the first place.
