President Trump tweeted Wednesday that he has instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo not to allow Hoda Muthana, a 24-year-old Alabama woman who traveled to Syria in November 2014 to join ISIS, to return to the U.S.
The big picture: Muthana who is presently detained in a Kurdish refugee camp, has pleaded with the U.S. government to allow her to return with her toddler son and stand trial, telling The Guardian that she regrets joining the terrorist group. Earlier on Wednesday, Pompeo said Mathana would not be re-admitted into the country because she has no "legal basis" to claim American citizenship. However, a representative for Muthana claims she is a citizen and that she was born to a former diplomat in Hackensack, New Jersey, in 1994.
- The AP notes that under the Immigration and Nationality Act, "a person born in the U.S. to a foreign diplomatic officer is not subject to U.S. law and is not automatically considered a U.S. citizen at birth."
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