The Trump administration has now used a federal terrorism court that sat dormant for three decades to remove an Afghan woman tied to an ISIS-inspired Election Day attack plot.
The Justice Department (DOJ) announced the case Friday, on the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, although Nazira Haji Zada, 47, was actually deported to Afghanistan on Aug. 25. She had been living in Fort Worth, Texas.
Zada became the first person ever brought before the Alien Terrorist Removal Court (ATRC), which Congress created in 1996 but no previous administration had used. DOJ filed its application seeking her removal on July 15.
The unusual court was designed to let the government deport alleged terrorists without forcing national security information into ordinary immigration proceedings. CNN notes that Article III federal judges hear the cases rather than executive branch immigration judges, and classified evidence may be withheld from both the public and the person facing removal.
Zada initially appeared headed for a constitutional fight over that process. Her lawyers had indicated they would challenge the court on due process and other constitutional grounds, but the fight ended before a judge had to decide those questions. By Aug. 20, Zada had agreed to removal, conceded her designation as an alien terrorist, and waived her right to appeal.
She is now permanently barred from returning to the United States.
Attorney General Todd Blanche called the result a national security win.
“Those who support and condone terrorism should not be living in the United States, and this first-ever case before the ATRC shows how the Department will use every tool at its disposal to protect our country.”
The case traces back to a planned ISIS-inspired attack around the 2024 election involving Zada’s son, Abdullah Haji Zada, and her son-in-law, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi.
An unclassified summary released in the case accused Zada of working to “indoctrinate her children with ISIS ideology and have them pledge loyalty to ISIS.” Much of the government’s underlying evidence remains classified.
Tawhedi had previously worked as a security guard at an American military installation in Afghanistan. Prosecutors said he later took steps toward carrying out the attack, including obtaining AK-47 rifles, selling family assets and purchasing one-way tickets for his wife and child to return to Afghanistan.
Federal court records say Tawhedi and Abdullah Haji Zada were arrested in October 2024 after purchasing firearms and ammunition from an undercover FBI employee. Abdullah, who was 17 at the time of his arrest, later pleaded guilty as an adult and received a 15-year prison sentence. He has also agreed to deportation after serving his sentence.
Tawhedi pleaded guilty to terrorism-related charges and has not yet been sentenced. CNN described him, based on court filings, as the driving force behind the ISIS-aligned plot.
The Hill noted that federal authorities more commonly seek to prosecute and imprison people considered terrorism threats rather than remove them from the country. This time, the DOJ reached for a law that had sat unused since the Clinton administration created it.
FBI Director Kash Patel said the result should send its own message.
“An individual who supported a plot by ISIS-sympathizing family members to commit an attack in America has paid the price for that.”
The settlement means the larger constitutional questions surrounding the court remain unanswered. It also does not appear those questions will stop DOJ from trying again.
Blanche said Friday:
“This was the first time we’ve done this, and I promise you we’re going to do this more often.”1`
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