A Hoover woman who fled the country to join ISIS, but now wants to come home, faces an uncertain fate. Hoda Muthana ran off in 2014, at the age of 19, while attending UAB. She later called for terrorist attacks on the U.S., while using social media to spread the Islamic terrorist group's propaganda.
"Americans wake up! Men and women altogether. You have much to do while you live under our greatest enemy, enough of your sleeping!" Muthana tweeted in 2015. "Go on drive-bys and spill all of their blood, or rent a big truck and drive all over them. Veterans, Patriot, Memorial etc Day parades..go on drive by’s + spill all of their blood or rent a big truck n drive all over them. Kill them."
Muthana, 24, tells the Guardian newspaper that joining ISIS was a "big mistake," and said that she is ready to accept the consequences of her actions. Local Muslim leaders applauded the woman's statement, and said that they would like to see Muthana return. "We, as the Muslim community here in greater Birmingham ... would welcome her with open arms," Birmingham Islamic Society president Ashfaq Taufique told WBRC-TV Fox 6. But professor John Carroll with Samford University's Cumberland School of Law said that it's not that simple. "She can't fly back, and [the federal government] may well take action to revoke her citizenship, which would keep her out of the country permanently," Carroll said. Muthana and her child are being held at Syrian refugee camp.