Alabama woman, after joining IS, banned from return to US
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E-mail Xinhua, February 22, 2019
An Alabama woman who joined the Islamic State (IS) in Syria found her way back home blocked, after Britain said it may prevent a London IS bride from returning, citing "hate for our country."
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Wednesday that Hoda Muthana, an Alabama native who joined the IS in 2014, is not a U.S. citizen and will not be allowed to enter the United States.
Muthana "does not have any legal basis, no valid U.S. passport, no right to a passport, nor any visa to travel to the United States," Pompeo said in a statement.
Now in a refugee camp in Syria, 24-year-old Muthana said she made a mistake in joining the IS and wants to return to the United States with her 18-month-old son.
"The situation of American citizens or possible American citizens in Syria is by definition extremely complicated, and we're looking into these cases to better understand the details," said State Department Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino, when asked about Muthana at a press briefing on Tuesday.
The Kurdish-led, U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) detained some 900 foreign fighters during their campaign against the IS in northeastern Syria, media reported. The SDF has warned that they may not be able to hold IS fighters after the departure of U.S. forces.
"The United States is asking Britain, France, Germany and other European allies to take back over 800 ISIS fighters that we captured in Syria and put them on trial," U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted Saturday.
Trump said it was time "for others to step up and do the job that they are so capable of doing" after the U.S. had expended plenty of resources in Syria.
This came after British Home Secretary Sajid Javid said Friday that the British government may try to prevent Shamima Begum, who left London as a schoolgirl in 2015 to join the IS, from returning.
"We must remember that those who left Britain to join Daesh (the IS) were full of hate for our country," Javid said.
Legal problems may loom, however, if Begum's wish to return is rejected, said British Justice Minister David Gauke on Saturday. He told Sky News that people should not be made stateless.
As part of Europe remains silent on this issue, France took a different path. It is preparing for the return of scores of French jihadists, most of them children, who were held by Kurdish authorities in Syria after the U.S. withdrawal, said French Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet on Jan. 31.
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