Trump Administration Invokes Rarely Used Terrorism Court to Pursue Deportation of Afghan Woman

The Trump administration has activated a specialized federal court for the first time in its 30-year history to pursue the deportation of an Afghan woman accused of supporting an Islamic State-inspired attack scheme within the United States. The Alien Terrorist Removal Court is scheduled to convene Thursday in Washington, D.C., to consider the government’s petition regarding Nazira Haji Zada, 51, who was arrested this week in Fort Worth, Texas.

According to an FBI memo dated July 15, Nazira allegedly advanced the Islamic State cause by encouraging her children to pledge allegiance to the terrorist organization and backing a plot involving family members to conduct an ISIS-inspired assault timed for Election Day 2024. Court records indicate she serves as mother and mother-in-law to two Afghan nationals convicted in Oklahoma for their involvement in the scheme.

Her son, Abdullah Haji Zada, received a 15-year sentence in November and has already agreed to deportation following his release. Her son-in-law, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, a former security guard at an American military facility in Afghanistan, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and attempted provision of material support to the Islamic State, having ordered automatic weapons and liquidated family assets to finance attack preparations.

Established by Congress in 1996, the Alien Terrorist Removal Court comprises five federal judges appointed by the Supreme Court’s chief justice and operates exclusively from the federal courthouse in Washington. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche characterized the application as evidence that terrorist sympathizers must be expelled from American soil, stating the case demonstrates how the matriarch of an ISIS-aligned family supported a potential mass casualty operation targeting American voters.