In a victory for President Donald Trump, the Justice Department announced Friday that it secured a first-of-its-kind deportation through the Alien Terrorist Removal Court, a secretive tribunal that had never been used before the administration activated it this summer.
Nazira Haji Zada — an Afghan woman who was accused by the department of assisting her son and son-in-law in planning a foiled 2024 terror plot — was deported to her home country after conceding that she was an alien terrorist, according to newly unsealed court filings and the announcement by Justice Department.
Her lawyers and the Trump administration agreed to her deportation last month, meaning major legal questions about the court’s secretive procedures will remain unanswered.
Lawyers for the woman had previously indicated they were challenging the constitutionality of the court, alleging its procedures violated due-process protections and an assortment of other constitutional amendments.
However, the new filings reveal that by August 20, she had reached an agreement with DOJ to be deported, with court documents indicating that she was conceding to her designation as an alien terrorist — a term defined in immigration law — and waiving her right to appeal her removal order.
There are no indications among the newly unsealed documents that Judge Joan Ericksen, the chief judge of Alien Terrorist Removal Court, had taken additional steps to scrutinizing the arguments the administration was making about Haji Zada, after granting an initial approval earlier this summer for the use to move forward in the tribunal.
The court was created by Congress 30 years ago as a way for the federal government to quickly deport accused terrorists in situations where using the normal immigration proceedings risked exposure of national security secrets.
The Trump administration on Friday celebrated the deportation order as vindication of its decision to use the court, even if questions about its constitutionality remain unvetted.
“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 in the press release. “Those who support and condone terrorism should not be living in the United States, and this first-ever case before the ATRC shows how the Department will use every tool at its disposal to protect our country.”
The court’s procedures allow the Justice Department keep hidden from the public — and even from the immigrant they’re seeking to deport — classified information about why the government believes them to be an alien terrorist, a designation defined in immigration law. The cases go before Article III judges, who are seen as more independent than the Executive Branch immigration judges who consider routine deportation proceedings.
Past administrations had never sought to use the court, perhaps determining that no deportation case was so sensitive that it was worth risking a ruling finding the court unconstitutional.
Legal observers have questioned why the administration sought to use it now.
The Dallas-based Afghan woman who was deported did not speak English, and could not read or write, according to court filings.
Her son is currently serving a 15-year sentence for obtaining firearms to support a terrorist organization, having pleaded guilty to the charge. Her son-in-law — described in court filings as the driving force behind the ISIS-aligned terror plot — reached a plea deal in the prosecution but has not yet been sentenced.
In the sparse public filings the government submitted about Haji Zada to the Alien Terrorist Removal Court, DOJ described her as indoctrinating her family with ISIS ideology and taking steps to support her sons’ terror plans, which targeted the 2024 election.
“This is a historic and vitally important step in our work to protect the U.S. homeland from terrorism,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in the release. “An individual who supported a plot by ISIS-sympathizing family members to commit an attack in America has paid the price for that.”
By CNN
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