Thousands of ISIS Children Suffer in Camps as Countries Grapple With Their Fate

Repatriate the children back to their home countries if they have extended family in those countries willing and able to take them. But the women can say where they are. They voluntarily gave up their citizenship and joined a terrorist group whose sworn objective was to destroy western civilization. They willingly participated in some unspeakable activities. Choices have consequences. They made their beds. Let them lie in them.

My grandfather, a German, was interned here during WWI where he met my grandmother and married. In a rational world I have every right to be here and have my citizenship. The parents or grandparents made their choice as mine did, who made a good choice and those of ISIS did not. I consider my self the benefactor of good fortune but that is the way it shakes out. The ISIS children were not born with a guarantee of good fortune so the world owes them no more than that of any other child. Is it a shame that they had parents that supported murder and destruction but that is that. Before special acts are done to better these children there are children around the globe ahead of them on a would be list.

Even if you have no mercy for people caught up in the ISIS debacle, there is still the problem of leaving them in the desert angry. Those who manage to survive will be ISIS-future and very dangerous. We need to get smarter than just cancelling their passports.

The comments are always interesting. Comments coming from US citizens are curious. We are a compassionate people, but with a strong streak of vindictiveness. Witness that we have the highest rate of incarceration in the World. At least a sizable portion of us try to make democracy as complicated as possible while waving the flag and preaching the Constitution. Like most issues this will get argued to death. Look at our border as a consequence of our actions and ISIS remnants as a societal problem. Why were they so desperate to renounce citizenship and go to the Middle East?

Adults who went to Syria or Iraq to join ISIS made their own bed. We owe them nothing. Let the Syrians and Iraqis prosecute them for crimes committed in Syria and Iraq. Don't tell me they will not receive Western style justice there; they chose where to commit their crimes. Young children, who had no choice of going, are a different matter. I have no problem resettling children with foster or adoptive parents, with one important proviso - complete and permanent separation from their family of birth. The risk of contangion is too great if they keep contact with the family that spawned the loyalty to ISIS.

Each country must make a decision. Some like Iraq will decide that there is to be no mercy. Some will find that resettlement and re-education of the children is the best way forward while the adults find no mercy. Others will decide that the risk presented by all is outweighed by repatriation. We are fortunate that there are few Americans involved. So perhaps we should investigate each adult very closely and decide who is deserving and who should be shunned. For the children, we must be merciful. For better or worse, that quality is part of what America is.

In Europe some attacks involved the grand children of middle eastern immigrants, 3rd generation. Balancing mercy and common sense with these women and children will not be easy. A certain percentage of these will revert to the ways of their fathers eventually.

Sad, but their parents made a choice..without thinking of the future. The children are innocent but keep in mind their method of upbringing will not change in their attitudes towards democratic governments..don't bring them here..let them stay where they are.. "We are a product of our environment" ..theirs will never (should ) change.

Very difficult problem. These women & children must be repatriated only if they have family who will take responsibility for them. We have many single mothers in this country who are trying to keep their households going. We should not divert assistance from them(spend taxpayers dollars) in order to repatriate these people.

This isn't complicated at all. Don't let any of these people into the US. Not a single one. When was it decided that it is moral to allow our enemies into our communities and put our own children at risk? The answer: it isn't moral and never was or will be.

given the millions and millions in the world who need aid, this group is truly last on my list.

The world is awash in tragedy- migrants peacefully trying to emigrate in leaking boats and dangerous caravans, people subject to civil insurrection and ethnic strife, in Pakistan aid workers have even been killed trying to distribute polio vaccine and now this... It's hard enough to help people when they want to cooperate- but when their culture has been to destroy your culture, then the job has gotten that much harder. I wish I had an easy answer.

They are children that will have PTSD. Some will thrive with the right mentoring. Others will be lost to depression , drugs and violence. All have a right to a second and third chance of achieving redemptive grace . It wasn’t their choice to be an Isis child.

DNA is real. The effects of parental behavior and parental deaths are real. Being barbaric is part of human history. I believe when a person or group violates human principals, they have gone outside the human circle of humanity. They cannot be allowed back in because they will sicken healthy people. Why pay money to jail/rehabilitate/house/etc. them when other, good people need help?

The silence of the United Nations human rights office in the discussion of the fate of the children is defeaning.

The starting point should be the U.N. aid to palestinians as a starting model of how to help this group. The issues are very similar; statelessness, risk of terrorism, special concern for the children's life chances, etc. Obviously it wouldn't be exactly the same, but its a much more practical starting point than trying to figure out how to make America or Britain take them back.

The "solutions" are indeed all fraught. Regardless of their behavior or philosophy, they are human beings who cannot be simply left in a deteriorating camp in the desert. Nor can the Kurds or other groups currently holding them support them forever (unemployed women and their children still need clothes, shelter, medical care, etc.). There is some validity to the statement that a nation is responsible for its own citizens, even if those citizens have gone off to fight for (or support) the enemy. If that enemy was a nation, then a case might be made that it was responsible for these folks, but it is not a nation. The best, though bad, solution is to bring them home, try the adults (they did join the enemy, regardless of motives), hand the children to relatives (or adoption). Beyond that re-education and/or counseling for both children and adults would be appropriate. Long-term monitoring is also a good idea. We (or any nation) cannot prevent all violence within our borders. Nor should we simply hand our problems over to a foreign power, leave them in the desert to die, or knowingly put them in a situation where they receive a 5 minute "trial" before being put to death. If we think the latter is ok (IMO, it is not), then we should just form up a firing squad there in the desert, shoot them all, and be done with it. It would be more honest.

They can be put on trial right where they are.

Thanks to the Times journalists for illuminating yet another unsolvable problem. As a counterpoint to general tilt of the comments here, did anyone insist on imprisoning Nazi Moms and their kids after the end of WWII? Then again, I don't imagine many of those people were still blithely practicing some "peaceful" Nazism in camps for months and years after the house blew up. Personally, I think that George W. Bush should personally host these people at his Texas ranch. Perhaps they could all learn from each other.

"Ripping" away these children from an ISIS parent seems an act of mercy rather than punishment--let's pursue as a matter of course.

The US , having caused ISIS to form by letting a bent on revenge Shia Iraqi government commit atrocities against is Sunni population, has a moral obligation to let those children into the US Make no mistake : Isis was a creation of the US, that invaded Iraq under false pretenses (there were no weapons of mass destruction) than dismantled the largely Sunni military, then installed a government bent on revenge. Iraqi Sunnis figured that they would be better off in a yes, a ISIS run , Sunni State with Mosul as its capital, than under the Baghdad Shia regime. But as with the millions of refugees, that the US created in Afghanistan and Syria, it is Europe, in particular Sweden and Germany , which are left to hold the bag.

This situation calls for judgement that makes Solomon's decisions look like child-play because the populace of both western democracies and totalitarian regimes don't want these people back regardless of what their individual story is. Having the mothers and children idle is the least of anyone's concern, when citizens of receiving countries have to weigh the risk of terrorism if they took them back against showing them some mercy. time is the least of anyone's concerns when getting it wrong could lead to plenty of deaths. As non-functional as they have always been, there might be a role for the UN to investigate claims and re-repatriate those that meet a collectively agreed upon criteria. Those that no one is willing to accept because they have not shown remorse, might go to a country that is specifically paid a fee to house them or jail them if there is evidence of war crimes or they don't want to change their attitudes. To some degree Turkey already does that, and I am sure that other countries can be found that need the cash bad enough to perform the service.

Perhaps leaving the adults to their fate in Syria or Iraq might be cruel, but this action may serve as a deterrent to the establishment of subsequent “Caliphates”. The fact that the “caliphate” abandoned so many of its “holy warriors” to the infidels and kafir will effectively destroy most of ISIS credibility in the Islamic world.

It doesn't actually seem like there is a debate here. One country should not be able to turn one of their citizens into a stateless actor and foist them onto another country. It's absurd. So Britain allowed hundreds of their citizens to enter a foreign country, commit innumerable crimes and then said, Hey they are your problem? There is a reason the USA has not taken this stance(although they tried in one case with an attempt to to deny that a woman ever had citizenship) Can you imagine if all the Central American countries revoked the citizenship of people that went to the USA and then refused to allow them back into their country? It really is an open and shut case. Each country should take back their citizens.

A good start would be to follow the money that brought them there. Those who paid their airfare, transport and lodging assumed responsibility for them, and that remains. I feel terrible for these innocent children who were either brought or born into this mess. But, those who financed ISIS and even al-Qaeda, an an effort to establish hard core religious rule in Iraq and Syria are the real culprits. They want an Islamic state? Let them go to Saudi Arabia....if the shoe fits, wear it.

I don't really see why any country would want to provide quarters to the next generation of terrorists. Don't allow them to come back, they willingly went to a terrorist organization. They don't deserve compassion or mercy because they don't have any in them.

I think we have two main choices in how to deal with these people well. The first is highly expensive, involving bringing them back to their home nations, then educating them, providing low-cost housing, providing reasonable jobs, and striving to re-establish them in society. Brainwashing them back to normal, basically. It would take a massive effort, but there aren't really that many of these people comparatively, and it would prevent almost all of them from becoming terrorist threats in the future. Of course it wouldn't prevent them all, but the act alone might prevent some terrorists from being home-grown, as they are being right now. People starting down that path might see the mercy doled out and appreciate their society, and veer away from attacking innocents. The other option is to jail them forever or kill them all. Pretty barbaric either way, and while both methods would be effective at preventing them from doing harm, both would cause other young, impoverished, disillusioned men to take up the jihadist cause. The second option seems to be what many countries are going with, by default. I really hope people see the wisdom of the first option, but sadly, I realize that bigoted ignoramuses like Trump cannot.

"The fact is, Mr. Vidino said, few extremists return to stage attacks in their home countries." Seriously? Where are the long-term studies to support this claim?

I feel sorry for the kids - and for those who were brainwashed and now regret their actions - but there are many like them who are born in the wrong place and are in a bad situation, who made a mistake and it shadows their entire life. We try to help all of those in such circumstances, and cannot. Few who return will turn terrorist - but that leaves the odds that some will - while others don't turn terrorist, but do talk up and preach extremism and turn others. With any other than the youngest and orphaned children, the decision is difficult. Older children, coming from war and brainwashing will need a lot of support, retraining, and still may never come out of it. But these people have long lives ahead of them. A court to determine who has and has not committed atrocities is a step, but to repatriate is difficult. When you choose to go to another hostile country to join it's side, you abandon your citizenship. I wouldn't give it back easily, if at all, either. The children are innocent and paying for a parent's mistake - as many are with neglectful and abusive parents of many different kinds.

Our politicians inform us that unskilled immigrants are the most important fuel for economic growth. As these folks have little education and the article tell us that they are not in school, it is strange that there is not a bidding war among countries anxious to become richer by admitting them as immigrants.

The adults are out of luck, but children are another matter, especially if they're very young. At least let the children under 5 go back to their mother's countries of origin. For gods sakes, the babies are not a danger and should be put up for adoption. The longer they stay with their mothers, the larger the chance that they will be forever lost in the hate that brought their mothers to ISIS in the first place. Get them out!

There is one woman from Alabama who joined ISIS, bore the child of an ISIS fighter, now regrets having done so, and wants to return to the USA. When she arrived in ISIS territory, she proudly burned her USA passport and posted the video of it on YouTube. So technically she is now a stateless citizen of the world and, as far as I and most all common sense Americans are concerned, should remain that way. Maybe some country may eventually take these people in, but under no circumstance should the USA take them back. I think the USG has made that clear. Thank you.

It is sexist to consider the women empty-headed innocents. They are responsible for atrocities and dangerous. The children should be taken and put up for adoption in stable, non-Muslim families. I would be happy to take one. To put them with relatives in families and communities that radicalized their parents is dangerous.

Put the children up for adoption and the women to work building homes, schools and churches for the “infidels” that they enslaved. They should lie in the bed that they made.

Why is it that “White Christians” are expected to pay for the sins of their fathers?

Repatriate the children and leave the parents to face Iraqi justice.

The women and most of the children are ruined. They cannot be moved back to society because they are dangerous and will cause more havoc and damage. They should be adjudicated by the Iraqi or Syrian justice systems.

The best place to send these people is where the ideas of Islamic jihadist revolution started around 600 AD, which is Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Arabia Royal family has been expert in eradicating all their non-Muslim populations (except to work as menial laborers after they've confiscated their passports and hold them in virtual slavery), believe in Shariah Law, and the complete subjugation of females -- all which is in conformance to Islamic Wahhabism.

Give them a Lonely Planet guide to Syria.

ISIS committed untold numbers of war crimes including genocide of the Yazidis, torture, murder, rape and untold mayhem. Whole cities are rubble, the inhabitants tortured and murdered. These people need to be imprisoned for the rest of their lives. The children must be saved.

The old adage applies to all these miserable people who joined a criminal organization and was responsible for the deaths of many innocent human beings, so the answer is "If you made your bed lie in it now and dont complain." The other alternative is to hand them over to the Iraqi justice system to deal with them and those who are left send them to Gitmo camp for incarceration. Give the young children under 5 years of age for adoption.

They should be sent to the areas they helped to destroy. I haven't seen a single interview with any of them that looked even remotely like regret or apology. Maybe they will learn a little humility when they are forced to live alongside those they helped terrorize. They made their choices, and now they should set an example of penance and restitution for their children.

1. Bring the children under 15 home. If they have extended families put them there, but with supervision. 2. If no families put them in supervised foster homes or orphanages. 3. Keep a record of all children and evaluate their psychological condition. 4. Debrief all of them. As to the mothers bring them home to be adjudicated, and deal with them accordingly.

The children are innocent but their parents are ISIS and need to be held. It would be cruel and more traumatic to separate the children from their mothers. They undoubtedly love and are loved by their mothers and stand the best chance of surviving without great psychological trauma if they stay with their parent surrounded by other children and families with similar backgrounds and circumstances, even in an internment camp.