United States Court of Appeals FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT Argued May 15, 2020 Decided January 19, 2021 No. 19-5362 AHMED ALI MUTHANA, INDIVIDUALLY, AND AS NEXT FRIEND OF HODA MUTHANA AND MINOR JOHN DOE, APPELLANT v. MICHAEL R. POMPEO, IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, ET AL., APPELLEES Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (No. 1:19-cv-00445) Christina A. Jump argued the cause for appellant. With her on the briefs was Charles D. Swift. Scott G. Stewart, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice, argued the cause for appellees. With him on the brief were Joseph H. Hunt, Assistant Attorney General, William C. Peachey, Director, Office of Immigration Litigation, Anthony D. Bianco, Senior Litigation Counsel, Christopher A. Bates, Senior Counsel, and Joseph F. Carilli Jr., Trial Attorney. 2 John C. Eastman and Anthony T. Caso were on the brief for amicus curiae Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence in support of appellees. Before: TATEL and RAO, Circuit Judges, and SENTELLE , Senior Circuit Judge. Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge RAO. Opinion concurring in the judgment filed by Circuit Judge TATEL. RAO, Circuit Judge: Hoda Muthana grew up in the United States, but at age twenty left college to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (“ISIS”). After marriage to two different ISIS fighters, Hoda now seeks to return to the United States with her son, John Doe. The State Department maintains that Hoda is not a citizen and has no right to return to the United States. Hoda’s father, Ahmed Ali Muthana (“Muthana”), initiated this lawsuit on behalf of his daughter and grandson to settle their citizenship. The district court held that Hoda and her son are not U.S. citizens, because Hoda’s father possessed diplomatic immunity when she was born in the United States, rendering her ineligible for citizenship by birth under the Fourteenth Amendment and her son ineligible for citizenship under 8 U.S.C. § 1401(g). We affirm the district court. A child born in the United States to a foreign diplomat is not born “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States and thus not entitled to citizenship by birth under the Fourteenth Amendment. Hoda Muthana is not now and never was a citizen of the United States because her father enjoyed diplomatic immunity pursuant to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations when she was born, and she was never naturalized. Because Hoda is not a citizen, neither is her son, who was born abroad to two alien parents. 3 Muthana also sought mandamus relief to compel the United States to assist in bringing Hoda and John Doe back to the United States; however, we have no jurisdiction over such a claim and it must be dismissed. Finally, Muthana sought a declaratory judgment that if he sent money and supplies to his daughter and grandson, he would not violate the prohibition on providing material support for terrorism, 18 U.S.C. § 2339B. We agree with ...
Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals