“ISIS bride” Hoda Muthana’s citizenship case will not be fast-tracked, a judge ruled Monday — waving off her family’s fears that the US might withdraw from Syria before her suit is resolved.
DC federal Judge Reggie Walton denied her family’s request to expedite their suit, saying their argument that she could get stuck in Syria or put in danger if American troops pull out involved too much speculation.
“The case will need to adhere to the normal course of the flow of litigation” and “proceed on the normal track,” Walton said.
Muthana was born in the United States and in 2014 fled to Syria to join ISIS. In Syria, she married a series of jihadi fighters and used Twitter to call for terror attacks on US soil — but is now in a Kurdish-run refugee camp, begging to be allowed back home with her infant son.
The Trump administration is refusing to bring her back, saying she is not a citizen — apparently because her father was a diplomat at the time of her birth.
Her family insists her dad had ceased to be a diplomat months before she was born, and filed a suit last month seeking clarification on the citizenship status of their daughter and her son.
Their lawyer argued Monday that the case should be expedited so that she can get out of the refugee camp before the US leaves Syria — which he said would put her at risk of being recaptured by ISIS and could make it impossible for her to return.
“She is in a precarious position,” attorney Charlie Swift told the court.
He said Muthana had already transferred to another refugee camp due to “threats from ISIS extremists.”
“She suffers significant deprivations inside a refugee camp, she could be recaptured, she could be killed,” he said.
Department of Justice attorney Scott Stewart argued Muthana’s lawyer had no concrete evidence that she would face “imminent likely harm.”
The judge asked Stewart if he knew the government’s timetable for withdrawal from Syria, which he said he did not.
“I don’t know the answer to that. I’m not sure of the answer to that,” Stewart replied.