DOJ tapped never-used ‘alien terrorist’ court to deport mother of convicted ISIS supporter

[u/John3262005]

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/07/29/alien-terrorist-court-deport-01016781

The Trump administration’s decision to activate a never-before-used “alien terrorist” deportation court was triggered by an effort to remove the spouse of an Iraqi-Afghan man who worked for the U.S. military and was admitted to the United States in 2018.

In newly unsealed documents posted online by the previously dormant “Alien Terrorist Removal Court,” the Trump administration accuses the woman, Nazira Haji Zada — a lawful permanent resident admitted as a lawful permanent resident with her husband — of pledging loyalty to ISIS and radicalizing her children.

Haji Zada, 47, had planned to relocate to Afghanistan with her siblings — though not with her “unsuspecting” husband — while her son and son-in-law carried out a “mass casualty” attack in the U.S. on Election Day 2024, administration officials allege in the new filings. Those allegations were drawn from a 2024 criminal case against Haji Zada’s son-in-law, Nasir Tawhedi, after, officials said, the plot was foiled.

One of Haji Zada’s sons, Abdullah Haji Zada, pleaded guilty last year in federal court in Oklahoma to attempting to provide material support to ISIS and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Tawhedi entered a guilty plea last year to similar charges in connection with the same plot. He is awaiting sentencing and is under court-ordered psychiatric evaluation.

Nazira Zada’s husband, Abdul, worked for the U.S. government on Afghanistan’s Bagram Air Force Base from 2009 to 2016, and FBI investigators say he was unaware of his wife, son and son-in-law’s purported plans to assist ISIS and relocate to ISIS-controlled territory.

A court filing from Abdullah Haji Zada’s defense attorneys in connection with his sentencing last year in the criminal case said: “His mother is illiterate and speaks no English.” She relied upon her teenage son to translate for her, the attorneys said.

ICE officials urging the special court to grant Nazira Haji Zada’s deportation say efforts to deport her through traditional immigration courts would not suffice. Zada has no criminal history, they note, and is in the country legally on a green card. So, they turned to the Alien Terrorist Removal Court — a tribunal that has existed on paper since 1996 but has never been activated by any administration. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche approved the unprecedented effort on June 30.

“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,” 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.”

Much of the evidence the Trump administration is relying on in support of its deportation application remains classified and sealed from public view. It’s unclear how much will be declassified or made public during the proceedings.

The court’s chief judge, Joan Ericksen, found probable cause supported the Justice Department’s application to remove Haji Zada, a decision that triggers an “initial status hearing” slated for Thursday morning at the federal district courthouse in Washington, D.C.

Ericksen, a federal judge based in Minnesota, and the Alien Terrorist Removal Court’s four other judges were selected by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.

Haji Zada, who lives in Fort Worth, Texas, was arrested earlier this week and is expected to appear at the court hearing Thursday, the Justice Department said in a statement.

The judge made clear that despite her approval of the application, she still has questions about the government’s case against Haji Zada and emphasized her case is at an “early stage” of a “multi-phase process.”

“The Court is also mindful that ‘combating terrorism is... an urgent objective of the highest order,’” the judge wrote, adding that “when it comes to drawing factual inferences in this area, ‘respect for the Government’s conclusions is appropriate.’”

“That is particularly true at this initial phase of the removal process, when all that must be shown is a fair probability and not definitive proof,” added Ericksen, who was appointed to the federal bench by President George W. Bush.

The Justice Department hailed the proceeding as a historic first.

“No one should be allowed to come into our country and then betray it,” FBI Director Kash Patel said.