The Trump administration said it has successfully used the Alien Terrorist Removal Court to secure the deportation of an Afghan whose relatives plotted an attack to disrupt the 2024 election.
Nazira Haji Zada conceded that she was an alien terrorist, and the court revoked her green card in secret proceedings last month. She was removed on Aug. 25, though the judge unsealed the files only on Friday.
“This landmark case, resulting in the prompt removal of this alien terrorist to her country of origin, is a win for national security and the rule of law,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said.
The case was a proof-of-concept test for the court, which was established 30 years ago but had never been employed.
It had to borrow courtroom space from the regular federal district court in Washington and hadn’t even worked out the legal standard for detaining a migrant during the proceedings.
Prosecutors say Ms. Haji Zada assisted her son, Abdullah Haji Zada, and son-in-law, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, in their plans to conduct a mass shooting attack to disrupt the last presidential election.
The two men pleaded guilty to planning the attack, which prosecutors say was connected to the Islamic State.
As prosecutors detailed in court documents, Ms. Haji Zada was at the heart of the family’s indoctrination into ISIS.
That included pledging her own allegiance to ISIS and pressuring most of her children to do so as well.
In a curious twist, authorities say she hid her activities from her husband, a long-haul trucker who was often away from their home.
Ms. Haji Zada was granted lawful permanent resident status in 2018 while the U.S. was still fighting in her home country and three years before the disastrous withdrawal.
Tawhedi was among the tens of thousands of Afghans whom President Biden allowed to bypass the normal immigration system and reach the U.S.
Prosecutors said Ms. Haji Zada had made plans to sell the family home to finance the plot, which needed money to buy guns and ammunition. She also bought airplane tickets to spirit most of her family back to Afghanistan — though not her son and son-in-law, who planned to die as martyrs in the attack.
Her husband was also left out of the ticket purchase, prosecutors said.
Ms. Haji Zada’s daughter told the FBI that the mother made all her children except her two youngest sons pledge allegiance to ISIS and watch propaganda videos. When the daughter sought to stop following ISIS’ version of Islam, she said her mother punished her.
The daughter later recanted, but the FBI said that was coerced by her family.
The Justice Department said it wanted to use the terrorist court in Ms. Haji Zada’s case because some of the evidence connecting her to terrorist activity was classified and couldn’t be shared in a public proceeding.
The terrorist court, in theory, would let that information be kept on a close hold.
Ms. Haji Zada, in her own legal filings, had said the government didn’t have enough evidence to charge her in a regular criminal case so it turned to the “highly criticized” terrorist court. Her lawyers in the public defender’s office said the 1996 law establishing the court was “facially unconstitutional.”
The lawyers said the son and son-in-law have said Ms. Haji Zada didn’t know of their plans.
The Justice Department said it wanted to use the terrorist court in Ms. Haji Zada’s case because some of the evidence connecting her to terrorist activity was classified and couldn’t be shared in a public proceeding.
The terrorist court, in theory, would let that information be kept on a close hold — including denied to Ms. Haji Zada herself.
The court documents don’t say which country Ms. Haji Zada was sent to.
Government lawyers said they waited two weeks after her deportation to unseal the files in order to give her time to reach her “final destination.”
Her son, Abdullah Haji Zada, agreed as part of his plea deal to be deported to Afghanistan when his sentence is completed. His current release date is in 2037.
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