https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/20/world/middleeast/isis-bride-hoda-muthana.html
President Trump and Secretary of State Pompeo has reiterated the point that American-born woman named Hoda Muthana would not be allowed to come back into the US. Pompeo claims that she has no legal basis to return to the country as she travelled to Turkey in 2014 and was smuggled into Syria where she met up with ISIS to urge attacks against the West and US. With ISIS having waning influence in the region, Hoda wants to return to the US where she was born and was deeply sorry for her actions in the Middle East. Hoda did have an American passport before traveling to Turkey and was born in the US, which would make her a citizen. However, Pompeo claims that since Hoda was born to a diplomat from Yemen, any person born to diplomats in the US are under the jurisdiction of their respective countries. After joining Islamic State, the Muthanas received a letter that Hoda's passport has been revoked, although Mr. Muthana proved that he ad nondiplomatic status at the time of Hoda's birth, thus giving her an American passport at the time of her birth. The issue lands on the grounds if Mr. Muthana was a working diplomat at the time of Hoda's birth - thus either giving her legal residency status or citizenship. There have been multiple number of women from Europe and the West that have joined ISIS, who are now being held in Kurdish detention camps.
Should Hoda be allowed to return to the US as a citizen?
On what grounds can Hoda be denied citizenship?
Does her past affiliation with ISIS give grounds for a denial of citizenship?
Hoda should be allowed to return to the US as a citizen for several reasons. Firstly, although her father was a diplomat and there is a clause that diplomats' children do not automatically become US citizens, Hoda was born after her father had already stopped being a diplomat, which makes such a clause void. Perhaps because of her past affiliation with ISIS, there is more of a reason for Hoda to be granted citizenship, because driving her away may cause her to resent the US and be more likely to take action against the country. More importantly, her family is all in the US, and it would not be fair for the government to separate them when Hoda has expressed a desire to return.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Hoda's past affiliation with ISIS should not deny her US citizenship. Taking on a zero-tolerance stance will only alienate individuals like Hoda, and the US government should strive to remain open and understanding. Hoda (who is just one person) is not a serious threat to the safety and security of the country, and I think it would reflect poorly on the US's image as a world leader, if Hoda is treated as an exile and the notion of redemption is completely neglected.
ReplyDeleteShe should be allowed back as a citizen, because the law is very clear. Being born in the US barring specific circumstances (which she does not fulfill) means that she is a citizen. Unless she has her citizenship revoked by legal means, she is still a citizen, and should be allowed reentry into the US like any other citizen. Once she returns she can be made to stand trial, but before that point our legal system should protect her. Hoda cannot be denied citizenship, the circumstances are clear, by the law she is a citizen, and it's unacceptable to reinterpret laws unless a new one is actually passed, it doesn't matter whether she should have her citizenship revoked, because the law must be respected above anything else. Because past affiliation with ISIS isn't legally a reason to remove citizenship, it isn't, if a law is passed to do otherwise than sure, but even then I think it's not a good idea, instead she should remain a citizen but also be put on trial for any crimes related to her actions.
ReplyDeleteI do think she legally should be allowed back as a citizen, however,i do think that the reason they are denying her citizenship again is because it is potentially dangerous to america since she did smuggle into Syria to met up with ISIS to urge attacks against the West and US. Although she did say she regrets it and is deeply sorry, there is some form of defense and have some sort of caution america would have to put up in case she does change her mind once again after being allowed back as a citizen. But legally speaking, she should be allowed back as a citizen.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe she should ever be allowed back into America. There's already hundreds of thousands of people who want to come into America to work and to live a better life. She left America to join a terror organization that lives to kill Americans. If she want's to leave, she needs to understand that she is now a national security threat, which will always override her citizenship status. Whether she likes it or not, she made the decision to join a terror organization, and she must live with it.
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