WASHINGTON – In a groundbreaking move by the Trump administration, an Afghan woman is facing deportation through a little-known court that has been inactive for three decades. This court action relates to her alleged involvement in an Islamic State-inspired plot within the United States, as revealed by court documents filed on Wednesday.
Nazira Haji Zada, residing in Fort Worth, Texas, is the subject of a government petition to the Alien Terrorist Removal Court. A hearing is slated to take place on Thursday in Washington, D.C., following her arrest earlier this week.
An FBI document from July 15 indicated that Nazira expressed support for the Islamic State and compelled her children to pledge allegiance to the extremist group. The memo further alleges that she backed a plan orchestrated by her relatives to execute a terrorist attack inspired by ISIS within the U.S.
According to court records, Nazira is connected to two Afghan men convicted in Oklahoma for their part in a plot targeting Election Day 2024. Her son, Abdullah Haji Zada, was handed a 15-year prison sentence last November and has agreed to leave the U.S. following his incarceration.
Additionally, her son-in-law, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, formerly a security guard at a U.S. military facility in Afghanistan, confessed to conspiring and attempting to aid the Islamic State. Prosecutors disclosed that he actively pursued his attack plan by acquiring AK-47 rifles, liquidating family assets, and arranging one-way travel for his wife and child back to Afghanistan.
The Alien Terrorist Removal Court was established in 1996 but had never received a petition until this month, when the Justice Department filed an application seeking Nazira’s removal. Documents in support of that application were unsealed Wednesday night ahead of a scheduled hearing Thursday.
The long-dormant court has a specific authority to conduct deportation proceedings for individuals whom the Justice Department classifies as “alien terrorists.”
The court is comprised of five federal judges from different districts across the country who are appointed by the chief justice of the Supreme Court, with all proceedings, at least for now, taking place at the federal courthouse in Washington.
“Congress created the Alien Terrorist Removal Court three decades ago to remove from the United States alien terrorists who never should have been here in the first place,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement.
“The allegations in this case show the matriarch of an ISIS-sympathizing family aiding in a plot to launch a mass casualty attack on American voters on Election Day. The Department’s application in this court makes clear that terrorists have no place in the United States of America,” Blanche added.
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