DOJ Seeks To Deport Afghan Alien In First Alien Terrorist Removal Court Case, Citing Alleged Election-Day Plot

Interesting aliens, attorney general, doj, terrorist attack, texas, todd blanche admin July 31, 2026 0 Comments

DOJ Seeks To Deport Afghan Alien In First Alien Terrorist Removal Court Case, Citing Alleged Election-Day Plot

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is seeking to deport an Afghan alien after filing the first-ever case in a decades-old Alien Terrorist Removal Court (ATRC), according to a Thursday press release.

Congress created the ATRC in 1996 as part of its Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, a bill aimed at combating international terrorism, according to the Federal Judicial Center. The court had lain dormant prior to the DOJ’s filing this month. The ATRC was designed to allow the government to deport terrorist aliens quickly without disclosing classified information to the public.

Nazira Haji Zada, the 47-year-old matriarch of an Afghan family located in Fort Worth, Texas, allegedly played a role in schemes to perpetrate a mass shooting on Election Day in 2024, according to the DOJ press release. Her son, Abdullah Haji Zada, and her son-in-law, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, were previously convicted for their roles in the ISIS-inspired plot, the press release added.

Nazira Haji Zada was arrested in late July and stood before the ATRC’s Chief Judge Joan N. Ericksen in Washington, D.C., Thursday. Ericksen Monday that the government’s application to the ATRC be accepted, citing “probable cause to believe that the Respondent has been correctly identified and is an alien terrorist present in the United States.” She also denied Nazira Haji Zada’s attorney his request that the case be dismissed at the Thursday hearing, according to the AP.

“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,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche in the press release.

“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,” he added.

Tawhedi and Abdullah Haji Zada were arrested in October 2024 for buying firearms and ammunition for the attack from an undercover FBI worker, according to the press release. The 17-year-old Abdullah Haji Zada pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 years of prison. (RELATED: Fifth Circuit Rules Illegal Aliens Do Not Have Constitutional Right To Roam Free In US)

Tawhedi pleaded guilty in June 2025 to two terrorism-related crimes, including conspiring to provide resources to ISIS, the press release said. He admitted to buying two AK-47 rifles, 500 rounds of ammunition and 10 magazines for the planned mass-casualty attack, court documents cited by the release show. The 28-year-old also asked an ISIS facilitator whether 500 rounds would be enough for the shooting, according to a criminal complaint affidavit cited by the release.

The family began selling furniture, computers, a mobile phone and their two vehicles in 2024 to fund the attack, the press release states. Nazira Haji Zada signed the contract selling their house. The family also secured one-way airplane tickets that she would have used to fly to Afghanistan with the children shortly before the planned attack.

Erickson’s recent order said litigation was at an “early stage of the multi-phase process” and emphasized that combating terrorism is “an urgent objective of the highest order.”

“[W]hile Supreme Court precedents ‘make clear that concerns of national security and foreign relations do not warrant abdication of the judicial role,’ nevertheless, when it comes to drawing factual inferences in this area, ‘respect for the Government’s conclusions is appropriate,’” Erickson wrote.

The ATRC is composed of five judges, appointed by the chief justice to serve five-year terms, according to the FJC. To file a case, the attorney general must submit a sealed application to the ATRC for the removal of the “alien terrorist.” The law only requires one judge to grant the application, as long as the alien has been identified correctly and “removal under other available legal means would pose a risk to national security,” the FJC said.

The court must still hold a public hearing after accepting the application in which the accused alien is represented by counsel while the government tries to prove the individual is an alien terrorist. The government provides an unclassified summary of information which the alien can use to make his defense.

Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg praised the ATRC for its protection of classified information in the DOJ press release.

“The ATRC embodies the recognition that the government should not have to choose between allowing a dangerous alien to remain in the United States and disclosing sensitive classified information in a traditional removal proceeding,” Eisenberg said.

U.S. legal code includes membership in a terrorist organization, endorsing terrorist activity, or intending to participate in “activities that could endanger the welfare, safety, or security of the United States” as acts that could result in an alien being prosecuted as a terrorist.