In spring 2024, a U.S. military plane arrived at Kennedy Airport carrying a family of 10 Americans who had spent several years in detention camps in Syria for relatives of deceased Islamic State fighters. Among them was Halima Salman, a 27-year-old American woman who was immediately arrested upon arrival. Federal prosecutors allege that Ms. Salman was trained by ISIS to use an AK-47 rifle and that she is the first woman accused of membership in the group to face trial in a U.S. federal court. Her trial commenced on Tuesday in Brooklyn.

Ms. Salman was 17 when her father brought her, her mother, and eight siblings to territory controlled by ISIS in Syria. Prosecutors say she used the nom de guerre Umm al-Khattab al-Muhajir and have introduced photographs showing her posing before the Islamic State’s flag. They contend that after turning 18 in 2017, Ms. Salman voluntarily underwent weapons training authorized by a female military unit within ISIS. Central to the government's case is a document permitting her possession of a Kalashnikov rifle, two magazines, and 150 bullets. Prosecutors say this item was found on a phone belonging to the ISIS fighter who was Ms. Salman’s husband.

Defense attorneys contend that Ms. Salman was taken to Syria as a minor and did not adopt the group’s ideology. Samuel Jacobson, her lawyer, described Ms. Salman as an American teenager “married off to an ISIS fighter in Syria,” who endured harsh conditions. The defense also disputes the existence of photographic evidence showing Ms. Salman receiving weapons training.

According to accounts related to Human Rights Watch, Ms. Salman and her family were initially told they were going camping while in Turkey in 2016. After several days of travel, they were informed they had arrived in Syria. Prosecutors say her father served as a guard for ISIS until his death in a 2018 rocket attack. Meanwhile, Ms. Salman and her sister married foreign ISIS fighters. The family was captured by Syrian forces in 2019 and detained in camps along with thousands of others after ISIS lost territorial control.

In May 2024, under the Biden administration, Ms. Salman and her family were repatriated to the United States. Ian Moss, deputy coordinator for counterterrorism at the State Department who oversaw the repatriation, said the U.S. sought to demonstrate both capability and willingness to bring back its citizens from the region, encouraging other countries to do the same. The effort contrasts with the previous administration’s policy, which largely discontinued such returns.

While hundreds of Americans reportedly attempted to join ISIS, only 83 adults successfully entered Iraq or Syria and joined the group, with women comprising 14 of those adults and an estimated 12 to 30 minors among the cohort. Experts note that ISIS attracted both men and women. For instance, Allison Fluke-Ekren from Kansas, known as Umm Mohammed al-Amriki, pleaded guilty to leading the organization’s female military battalion and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Prosecutors say this battalion authorized Ms. Salman’s weapons training.

The trial offers a rare window into how the Islamic State structured its operations, including its bureaucracy, which at one point managed systems such as a motor vehicle department. Jurors are expected to examine the complexities of Ms. Salman’s case as it unfolds.