The US Justice Department is asking a federal judge to deport a Texas-based Afghan woman it calls an "alien terrorist" in the first case ever heard by the “Alien Terrorist Removal Court,” a little-used tribunal created nearly 30 years ago.
Nazira Haji Zada, 47, of Fort Worth, is scheduled to appear in Washington, DC, on Thursday, where prosecutors will argue she should be removed from the US over alleged ties to a failed Election Day 2024 mass shooting plot, according to CBS News.
"The allegations in this case show the matriarch of a Daesh-sympathising family aiding in a plot to launch a mass casualty attack on American voters on Election Day," Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said.
Zada has not been charged with terrorism and has no known criminal record. However, her son, Abdullah Haji Zada, and son-in-law, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, pleaded guilty to firearms and terrorism-related charges after buying rifles and ammunition from an undercover FBI agent.
Abdullah, arrested at 17 and charged as an adult, received a 15-year sentence and agreed to deportation after prison. Tawhedi pleaded guilty in 2025 to supporting Daesh terror group.
An FBI summary alleges Zada "supported" the plot, "pledged loyalty to Daesh," and "worked to indoctrinate her children with Daesh ideology," based on information from a "reliable source."
"Nazira worked with Tawhedi to radicalise the family and to conceal their pro-Daesh teaching and planned family relocation to Daesh-controlled territory from her unsuspecting husband," the FBI wrote.
Created in 1996, the “Alien Terrorist Removal Court” allows the government to deport noncitizens using classified evidence that cannot be publicly disclosed.
Individuals facing removal cannot review classified evidence or challenge how it was obtained. Initial proceedings are held privately, with public hearings only after a removal application is approved.
