An Afghan woman with legal permanent residency in the United States has been deported in the first case ever heard by the Alien Terrorist Removal Court. The court is a secretive tribunal created in 1996 that had never been used until proceedings began in July.
Nazira Haji Zada who had been living in Fort Worth, Texas, chose to leave the United States rather than continue fighting her case before the court, according to the Department of Justice and her own lawyers. She was never charged with a crime.
The DOJ said Haji Zada “conceded that she is an alien terrorist and waived appeal of the removal order.” Her lawyers offered a starkly different reading. “Our client’s choice to consent to removal should not be seen as an endorsement of this court’s legitimacy,” public defenders Matthew Farley and Mary Manning Petras said. They argued that their client’s departure reflected the impossibility of mounting a defence in a court where neither the defendant nor her attorneys were permitted to see the evidence against her.
Prosecutors accused Haji Zada of being the “matriarch” of a family cell, who had worked “to radicalise the family.” Her son, Abdullah Haji Zada, and son-in-law, Nasir Ahmad Tawhed, were both convicted of plotting a mass shooting on Election Day in 2024. A plot inspired by the group calling itself Islamic State. The government argued she was central to that radicalisation.
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The Secret Tribunal
The Alien Terrorist Removal Court is designed for non-US citizens facing terrorism-related proceedings where the evidence is classified. Court-appointed lawyers for Haji Zada confirmed that they were denied access to that evidence entirely.
“Dragging lawful permanent residents into court but refusing to show them or their attorneys the evidence that will be used against them is a plain violation of due process,” the public defenders said.
“We are confident that the Alien Terrorist Removal Court will be struck down as unconstitutional as soon as a judge is asked to address the issue.”
Attorney General Todd Blanche called the outcome “a win for national security and the rule of law.” Further adding that those who “support and condone terrorism should not be living in the United States.”