ICE officers conduct an enforcement operation, relevant to deportation actions.DOJ Deports Terror Suspect's Mother Using Never-Before-Used Secret Court
Left says
- •Zada has never been publicly charged with any crime and has no known criminal history, yet she faces removal under a lower evidentiary standard than a criminal trial would require.
- •Her defense attorneys argue the process violates due process rights under the First, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Amendments, calling it a way to bypass the criminal justice system entirely.
- •Much of the evidence against her remains classified, meaning she cannot fully see or challenge how it was collected or verify its accuracy.
- •Using a dormant, untested 1996 court as a first-of-its-kind legal experiment raises concerns about setting precedent for civil proceedings that carry serious consequences but fewer protections than criminal courts.
Right says
- •The case highlights vetting failures during the rapid, large-scale evacuation and resettlement of Afghan nationals after the fall of Kabul, which critics warned at the time could let extremists into the country.
- •The Justice Department and FBI allege Zada pledged loyalty to ISIS, helped radicalize her own family, and worked to conceal their support for a plot to attack voters on Election Day 2024.
- •Officials argue the Alien Terrorist Removal Court exists precisely for cases like this, where using classified intelligence in open court could expose sources and methods and endanger national security.
- •Supporters see this as a necessary and overdue use of a legal tool created by Congress to swiftly remove people who pose a terrorism risk rather than being stuck relying only on slower criminal proceedings.
Common Take
High Consensus- Zada's son and son-in-law both pleaded guilty to federal charges connected to a plot to attack Election Day polling sites in 2024 on behalf of ISIS.
- This is the first-ever case brought before the Alien Terrorist Removal Court since Congress created it in 1996.
- The court allows the government to use classified evidence and a lower standard of proof than a criminal trial to pursue deportation.
- Zada has not been criminally charged and denies wrongdoing through her attorneys.
The Arguments
Left argues
Zada has never been publicly charged with a crime, yet the government is using a lower evidentiary standard than a criminal trial would require to remove her, effectively bypassing the constitutional protections that would apply if she were prosecuted criminally.
Right counters
Immigration removal has always been treated as a civil matter with different standards than criminal law, and Congress explicitly designed the ATRC to handle terrorism-linked cases where classified intelligence makes criminal prosecution impractical without compromising national security.
Right argues
The Alien Terrorist Removal Court exists precisely for cases like this, where using classified intelligence in open court could expose sensitive sources and methods; officials argue this is a legitimate, congressionally authorized tool rather than a workaround.
Left counters
The fact that this tool sat dormant for 30 years and is now being activated for its first-ever test case, against someone with no criminal charges, raises legitimate concern that it's being used experimentally to establish a lower-protection precedent rather than out of genuine necessity.
Left argues
Because much of the evidence against Zada remains classified, her attorneys cannot fully see, verify, or challenge how it was collected, undermining basic due process and making it nearly impossible to mount an effective defense.
Right counters
Assistant Attorney General John Eisenberg argues the ATRC exists so the government isn't forced to choose between letting a dangerous alien remain in the country and disclosing intelligence sources that, if revealed, would endanger ongoing counterterrorism operations and personnel.
Right argues
The case underscores real vetting failures during the rapid, large-scale evacuation from Afghanistan, which critics like Trump and Vance warned at the time could allow extremists to slip through, and the government alleges Zada pledged loyalty to ISIS and helped radicalize her family toward a mass-casualty plot.
Left counters
Even if vetting failures occurred, using an untested civil court with reduced protections to address them sets a precedent that could be applied to others based on unverifiable secret evidence, regardless of whether this particular allegation is true.
Left argues
Defense attorneys argue the entire proceeding violates Zada's First, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendment rights, framing it as a deliberate 'run-around' of the criminal justice system for a case serious enough that, if true, would normally warrant criminal charges and a full trial.
Right counters
Removal proceedings are not criminal trials and never have been, so applying criminal-trial constitutional standards to an immigration removal—even a novel one—misconstrues the legal framework Congress explicitly built for exactly this scenario.
Challenge Questions
These questions target genuine internal contradictions — meant to provoke honest reflection.
Right asks Left
“If the same classified-evidence, lower-standard process were used against a citizen accused of a serious crime rather than a noncitizen, would the objection be to the process itself or specifically to using it in immigration contexts—and if it's the latter, why does that distinction justify weaker protections here?”
Left asks Right
“If protecting classified sources and methods justifies using a lower-standard civil court instead of a criminal trial in this case, what principle prevents the government from applying the same justification to expand use of this court against other noncitizens where the underlying evidence is weaker or unverifiable?”
Outlier Report
Left Fringe
Civil liberties groups like the ACLU and National Immigrant Justice Center, along with figures such as Rep. Ilhan Omar, who would strongly emphasize due-process violations and secret evidence as authoritarian overreach; likely represents 15-20% of the left.
Right Fringe
Immigration hardliners like Stephen Miller and commentators on outlets like RedState/Blaze who frame this as vindication for mass deportation and would want the process expanded further and faster, including to non-terror cases; represents roughly 20-25% of the right.
Noise Assessment
Significant amplification from both immigration hawks and civil-liberties advocates on social media, but general public sentiment is likely more muted and pragmatic, focused on the underlying terror plot rather than court procedure.
Sources (9)
The Department of Justice is seeking to deport the mother of a convicted ISIS supporter through the Alien Terrorist Removal Court, which has never before been used. CBS News legal reporter Katrina Kaufman has the story.
DOJ holds first-ever hearing of ‘Alien Terrorist Removal Court,’ created in 1996
The case is an early test of a court that has never been used before, where much of the evidence is presented in secret and defendants cannot challenge how it was collected.
Congress created the Alien Terrorist Removal Court in 1996 to make it easier for the Justice Department to use classified evidence to deport people from U.S. soil.
<img src="https://www.theblaze.com/media-library/doj-goes-to-special-court-to-send-mother-of-terrorists-back-to-afghanistan.jpg?id=67557777&width=1245&height=700&coordinates=0%2C0%2C0%2C0" /><br /><br /><p>The Biden administration admitted — at an <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/02/04/afghan-refugees/" target="_blank">accelerated pace</a> — thousands of Afghans into the United States following the collapse of Kabul, despite <a href="https://www.theblaze.com/news/afghan-national-imported-by-biden-harris-admin-accused-of-plotting-election-day-terrorist-attack-for-isis" target="_self">warnings</a> from Donald Trump, then-Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), and others about the likelihood of extremists slipping through the cracks.</p><p>Among the extremists ultimately <a href="https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/reports/25-056.pdf" target="_blank">admitted</a> into the U.S. under Biden was a jihadist who, with the help of other radicals in his family already in the U.S., plotted to slaughter as many Americans on Election Day 2024 as possible on behalf of ISIS.</p><p class="pull-quote">'NAZIRA worked with TAWHEDI to radicalize the family and to conceal their pro-ISIS teaching,' the DOJ claims.</p><p>The Trump Justice Department <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/department-justice-files-first-case-us-alien-terrorist-removal-court-deport-afghan-alien-who" target="_blank">announced</a> on Thursday that it has filed the first-ever case in the <a href="https://www.atrc.uscourts.gov/" target="_blank">U.S. Alien Terrorist Removal Court</a> — to remove the matriarch of that terrorist family, Nazira Haji Zada.</p><p>U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement noted in its July 15 <a href="https://www.atrc.uscourts.gov/docs/2026-TRC-1-Exhibit%20C%20-%20Unclassified%20ICE%20Declaration%20in%20Support%20of%20Application%20for%20Removal%20of%20Nazira%20Haji%20Zada%20-%20Redacted.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">declaration in support</a> of Zada's removal that she was first admitted to the U.S. as a lawful permanent resident in March 2018 as the spouse of a Middle Easterner employed by the U.S. at Bagram Air Base from 2009 to 2016. It notes further that she "meets the definition of alien terrorist as used in <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2023-title8/pdf/USCODE-2023-title8-chap12-subchapV-sec1533.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">8 U.S.C. § 1533(a)(1)(D)(i)</a>."</p><p>Zada, who has been residing in Fort Worth, Texas, was arrested this week and will appear before ATRC's Chief Judge Joan Ericksen on Thursday.</p><p>The ATRC is a special court <a href="https://www.fjc.gov/history/courts/alien-terrorist-removal-court-1996-present" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">created</a> by Congress in 1996. Congress authorized the chief justice of the United States — presently the head of the U.S. Supreme Court, John Roberts — to designate five U.S. district court judges to review removal applications for individuals identified as alien terrorists.</p><p>"This is a historic step asking this court for the first time to remove an individual from the United States who supported a plot by ISIS-sympathizing family members to commit an act of terrorism in America," said FBI Director Kash Patel. "No one should be allowed to come into our country and then betray it."</p><p><strong>RELATED: <a href="https://www.theblaze.com/news/democrat-crashes-out-again-threatens-ice-with-day-of-reckoning-for-catching-terrorist" target="_blank">Democrat crashes out AGAIN, threatens ICE with 'day of reckoning' for catching suspected terrorist </a></strong></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image"> <img alt="" class="rm-shortcode" id="37160" src="https://www.theblaze.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=67557751&width=1245&height=700&quality=50&coordinates=0%2C53%2C0%2C54" /><small class="image-media media-photo-credit">AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images</small></p><p>Zada is the mother of Abdullah Haji Zada and the mother-in-law of Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, both of whom were <a href="https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/afghan-national-arrested-plotting-election-day-terrorist-attack-name-isis" target="_blank">arrested</a> on Oct. 7, 2024, after buying guns and ammo from an undercover FBI employee for use in their thwarted Election Day massacre.</p><p>Abdullah Zada, an Afghan national who came to the U.S. with Zada in 2018, <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/afghan-national-pleads-guilty-obtaining-firearms-connection-plot-conduct-isis-inspired" target="_blank">pleaded guilty</a> in April 2025 to knowingly receiving, attempting to receive, and conspiring to receive a firearm and ammunition to be used to commit a federal crime of terrorism. He was handed down the maximum sentence of 15 years in federal prison, after which he will be deported.</p><p>Tawhedi, an Afghan national who entered the U.S. on Sept. 9, 2021 — nearly 20 years to the day after the 9/11 attacks — <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/afghan-national-pleads-guilty-plotting-election-day-terror-attack-united-states" target="_blank">pleaded guilty</a> to the same charges as well as to conspiring and attempting to provide material support and resources to ISIS. He has not yet been sentenced.</p><p>According to the original <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1372841/dl" target="_blank">criminal complaint,</a> Tawhedi immersed himself and his family members in jihadist propaganda and communicated with an ISIS facilitator about his efforts to procure weapons for use in the terror plot.</p><p>Footage taken on July 20, 2024, and later obtained by the FBI allegedly shows Tawhedi reading to his daughter and nephew about the supposed benefits of martyrdom, including a harem of 72 virgins and a crown of jewels.</p><p>Abdullah Zada and Tawhedi planned to sell Zada's home in Moore, Oklahoma, for $185,000 — Zada allegedly signed off on the sale — as well as other property owned by the family to fund both the terrorism plot and the repatriation of their family, including Zada but not her husband, back to Afghanistan on on Oct. 17, 2024, according to the complaint.</p><p>It appears the Afghan matriarch played a big role in helping her son and son-in-law advance their plot.</p><p>In an <a href="https://www.atrc.uscourts.gov/docs/2026-TRC-1-Exhibit%20E%20-%20Unclassified%20Summary.pdf" target="_blank">unclassified submission</a> to the ATRC, the DOJ claimed:</p><blockquote>The FBI has developed information that NAZIRA is a supporter of ISIS, has formally pledged loyalty to ISIS, and supported TAWHEDI and ABDULLAH's conspiracy. The FBI is further aware that NAZIRA, in collaboration with TAWHEDI, worked to indoctrinate her children with ISIS ideology and have them pledge loyalty to ISIS. NAZIRA worked with TAWHEDI to radicalize the family and to conceal their pro-ISIS teaching and planned family relocation to ISIS-controlled territory from her unsuspecting husband Abdul Haji Zada.</blockquote><p>Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said that "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."</p><p>"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," stated Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg. "We will use all the tools at our disposal, including this court, to remove foreign nationals who betray our values and exploit our goodwill by supporting ISIS and terrorist plots."</p><p><em>Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. </em><em><a href="https://www.theblaze.com/newsletters/theblaze-articlelink" target="_self">Sign up here</a></em><em>!</em></p>
The DOJ is seeking to deport an Afghan woman who prosecutors allege is an "alien terrorist," in the first-ever test case before a secretive court that has never convened since it was created three decades ago.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday will bring its first case in a dormant court that allows the speedy removal of noncitizens suspected of terrorism. The DOJ is seeking to remove Nazira Haji Zada, a 47-year-old Afghan woman living in Fort Worth, Texas, after her sons were convicted in Oklahoma for their roles in a…
The Trump administration has brought the first case in the U.S. Alien Terrorist Removal Court, seeking to oust an Afghan woman who prosecutors say supported her son's ISIS-inspired plot to kill people on Election Day in 2024.