In 2014, 19-year-old Hoda Muthana left her home in Hoover, Alabama in order to join ISIS. During her time in Raqqa, Syria she has been married three times, given birth to a son and been active on the now-deleted Umm Jihad Twitter handle. Using this handle, Muthana was adamant for the violent advancement of Jihadist Islam.
"Americans wake up!" she tweeted after the death of her first husband, terrorist Suhan Rahman. "Men and women altogether. You have much to do while you live under our greatest enemy, enough of your sleeping! Go on drivebys, and spill all of their blood, or rent a big truck and drive all over them. Veterans, Patriots, Memorial, etc day... Kill them."
She tweeted several more statements along these violent, anti-American lines. However, earlier this week, Muthana says that she wants to come back home to America.
She claims to have been brainwashed and radicalized, not accountable for the actions taken by her and her husband.
"I look back now and I think I was very arrogant," she told the Guardian in an interview. "Now I'm worried about my son's future. In the end I didn't have many friends left, because the more I talked about the oppression of Isis the more I lost friends. I was brainwashed once and my friends are still brainwashed."
Her indoctrination reflects the large amount of Westerners being persuaded to join terrorists groups online. Social media has been a great weapon for extremist groups in gaining more soldiers.
Now, Muthana begs to be let back into the U.S. "I would tell [US officials] please forgive me for being so ignorant," she said, "and I was really young and ignorant and I was 19 when I decided to leave. I believe that American gives second chances. I want to return and I'll never come back to the Middle East. America can take my passport and I wouldn't mind."
Muthana's cry for American reentry coincides with President Trump's urge to the EU to take ISIS soldiers into their custody. Trump demands that the EU put the 800+ ISIS combatants on trial or else the US will be forced to release them.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has specifically commented on Muthana's situation.
"Ms. Hoda Muthana is not a U.S. citizen and will not be admitted into the United States," Pompeo said in a statement. "She 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. We continue to strongly advise all U.S. citizens not to travel to Syria."
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