"A U.S. government decision this month to deny an American-born Islamic State bride's request to return home has renewed debate over the fate of American citizens who have traveled to join IS in Iraq and Syria, with some experts saying the case could set a precedent for preventing U.S. citizens who joined jihadists from returning home. Hoda Muthana, 24, was born in New Jersey and raised in Alabama. In 2014, while attending business school in Tuscaloosa, Ala., she left the U.S. and traveled to Syria to join IS's self-proclaimed caliphate. 'It is certainly possible that the administration could use this case as a precedent to bar other U.S. citizens who became foreign fighters from returning, but I cannot speculate further until the legal case plays out,' said Josh Lipowsky, a senior research analyst at the Counter Extremism Project."