AKIPRESS.COM - The father of the Alabama woman who joined ISIS in 2014 and married a fighter sued the Trump Administration in an effort to bring his daughter and her son to the United States immediately, New York Daily News reports.
Ahmed Ali Muthana filed the lawsuit Thursday in Washington’s federal district court against Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, President Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr.
Muthana is asking a judge to allow his daughter, Hoda Muthana, and her 18-month-old son back into the U.S. on the basis that she’s a citizen by birth.
Her lawyer said the 24-year-old knows she will likely be charged for her involvement with the terror group.
“She's bringing a lawsuit that makes her susceptible to criminal prosecution. Why would she do that? An 18-month-old child. She has a son and if she's a citizen, he’s a citizen. That’s why she'd do it,” attorney Charles Swift told the Daily News Friday.
Hoda Muthana, born in New Jersey, fled for Syria in November 2014. The question of her citizenship has been brought to the forefront because her father was a former Yemeni diplomat.
Her family said the U.S. determined she did not qualify for citizenship because of his diplomatic status at the time of her birth. Ahmed Ali Muthana alleges that he was required to surrender as a diplomat before his daughter’s birth because of the Civil War in Yemen.