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Father of ISIS bride sues to get U.S. to let her come back

Posted at 9:31 AM, Feb 22, 2019
and last updated 2019-02-22 11:31:16-05
Hoda Muthana
Hoda Muthana with her young son / HODA MUTHANA

WASHINGTON D.C. – The father of an Alabama woman who joined the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Syria filed suit against the Trump administration Thursday in an effort to allow her return to the United States.

Hoda Muthana is currently in a Syrian refugee camp with the 18-month-old boy after fleeing the remnants of the Islamic State.

Ahmed Ali Muthana argues in the suit filed in federal court in Washington that his 24-year-old daughter is an American citizen by birth and should be allowed to come back to the U.S. with her toddler son. Her lawyers said in a statement that she expects to be charged with providing material support to terrorism if she is allowed to return to the U.S.

“Ms. Muthana has publicly acknowledged her actions and accepted full responsibility for those actions,” the lawyers said. “In Ms. Muthana’s words, she recognizes that she has ‘ruined’ her own life, but she does not want to ruin the life of her young child.”

“At the end of the day, she is a U.S. citizen, and whether Americans make crimes or not, that doesn’t deprive them of their citizenship,” one of her attorneys, Hassan Shibly, told CBS News’ Holly Williams.