The Justice Department has completed the first removal in the history of the Alien Terrorist Removal Court, deporting Afghan national Nazira Haji Zada after she conceded she qualified as an alien terrorist and waived an appeal of the order.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
The Justice Department announced Friday that an Afghan national accused of supporting her family’s ISIS-inspired Election Day attack plot has been deported in the first completed case ever brought before the United States Alien Terrorist Removal Court.
Nazira Haji Zada, 47, who had been living in Fort Worth, Texas, was returned to her country of origin after conceding through her attorneys that she qualified as an alien terrorist under the statute governing the specialized federal court, according to the Justice Department. She also waived an appeal of the removal order and is now permanently inadmissible to the United States.
“This landmark case, resulting in the prompt removal of this alien terrorist to her country of origin, is a win for national security and the rule of law,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said. “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 Justice Department announced the removal Friday, saying Zada had supported members of her family who planned an ISIS-inspired mass shooting on Election Day in 2024.
Her son, Abdullah Haji Zada, and son-in-law, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, were arrested Oct. 7, 2024, after obtaining two AK-47-style rifles, 500 rounds of ammunition and 10 magazines from an undercover FBI employee as part of the planned attack.
Tawhedi later pleaded guilty to conspiring and attempting to provide material support to ISIS and to firearms offenses connected to a federal crime of terrorism. Abdullah Haji Zada pleaded guilty to a firearms offense and was subsequently sentenced to 15 years in federal prison.
According to court documents cited by the Justice Department, Tawhedi admitted that the plot was intended to produce mass casualties on or around Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024, on behalf of ISIS. Federal investigators said the family had also taken steps to sell property and arrange travel to Afghanistan before the planned attack.
The government filed its application against Nazira Haji Zada on July 15, marking the first time the Alien Terrorist Removal Court had been used since Congress created it in 1996. A July 16 court order addressed the unprecedented proceeding as the court considered how the case should move forward.
Zada later appeared before ATRC Chief Judge Joan N. Ericksen in Washington on July 30. The government supplied Zada and her two federal public defenders with approximately half a terabyte of documents supporting its case and also relied on classified information under procedures specifically authorized for the court.
The ATRC issued its removal order Aug. 20. It remained sealed until Friday, after Zada had been returned to her country of origin.
Congress established the specialized court three decades ago to handle removal proceedings involving noncitizens accused of terrorism when sensitive national-security information may be involved. The government must establish by a preponderance of the evidence that the individual meets the statutory definition of an alien terrorist.
The court is staffed by Article III federal district judges who are appointed to the ATRC by the chief justice of the United States. Its governing law permits classified evidence when public disclosure could endanger national security, provides appointed counsel when necessary and allows appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
No previous administration had brought a case before the court.
In Zada’s case, however, the proceeding did not result in a contested final determination after trial. The Justice Department said she conceded that she was an alien terrorist, accepted the removal order and waived her right to appeal.
The government’s case was handled through a coordinated effort involving the Justice Department’s National Security Division, FBI, U.S. Marshals Service and components of the Department of Homeland Security.
For the Justice Department, the completed removal represents both the first test and first successful use of a rarely invoked national-security mechanism that had existed in federal law for 30 years without a case ever reaching it.
“This first-ever case before the ATRC,” Blanche said, “shows how the Department will use every tool at its disposal to protect our country.”
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