A federal judge refused Thursday to shut down the Trump administration's landmark attempt to use a long-dormant national security court to deport an Afghan woman accused of helping her family plot an ISIS massacre on American voters, and the case is just getting started.
Chief Judge Joan Ericksen refused to dismiss the case against Nazira Haji Zada, a 47-year-old Afghan national living in Fort Worth, Texas, and denied a request to release her from custody, handing the Justice Department a critical early win in a case that has no precedent. Haji Zada entered the U.S. as a lawful permanent resident, a status she is now at risk of permanently losing.
The hearing marked the first public proceeding in the nearly 30-year history of the Alien Terrorist Removal Court, a court Congress built specifically for situations like this one and then left on the shelf for three decades. As RedState previously reported, the Trump administration made the unprecedented decision to finally put it to use. Congress created the specialized five-judge court in 1996 to handle deportation cases involving classified national security evidence that cannot safely be disclosed in open court.
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The Justice Department filed its application against Haji Zada on July 15, and the court immediately put the government to work. Ericksen directed prosecutors to supplement the filing with a clearer connection between Haji Zada's alleged conduct and the terrorism provisions cited. The government complied, and the court found it sufficient to move forward. Haji Zada was arrested at her Fort Worth home earlier this week and brought to Washington, D.C. to face the court in person Thursday.
Federal officials allege that Haji Zada supported family members who planned an ISIS-inspired mass shooting on Election Day in 2024. Her son, Abdullah Haji Zada, and son-in-law, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, have pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the plot.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche didn't mince words:
"The allegations in this case show the matriarch of an ISIS-sympathizing family aiding in a plot to launch a mass casualty attack.”
Tawhedi and Abdullah Haji Zada were arrested on Oct. 7, 2024, after purchasing two AK-47-style rifles and 500 rounds of ammunition from an undercover FBI employee. Prosecutors said the weapons were intended for an attack targeting large crowds on or around Election Day.
Abdullah Haji Zada, who was 17 when arrested, pleaded guilty as an adult and received a 15-year prison sentence. His plea agreement includes an order requiring his removal to Afghanistan after he completes that sentence.
Tawhedi pleaded guilty in June 2025 to conspiring and attempting to provide material support to ISIS and attempting to obtain firearms for a federal terrorism offense. He is awaiting sentencing.
The Justice Department alleges Haji Zada indoctrinated her children with ISIS ideology, concealed her family’s radicalization from her husband, and helped prepare for a move to Afghanistan before the planned attack. The family sold furniture, computers, a cellphone, and two vehicles, while Haji Zada signed a contract to sell the family home. One-way airline tickets were purchased for her and several children to travel to Kabul shortly before Election Day.
Haji Zada has not been criminally charged. The government is pursuing her removal through a civil immigration proceeding, one Congress explicitly designed to allow prosecutors to use classified evidence that cannot be safely disclosed in open court.
Her court-appointed public defender, Matthew Farley, predictably cried foul, calling the ATRC process unconstitutional and demanding the case be dismissed outright.
"This entire scheme is in violation of due process and unconstitutional. This is a runaround to bringing a criminal case," Farley argued.
Judge Ericksen wasn't buying it. She rejected Farley's dismissal motion and refused to release Haji Zada, though she left the door open for defense counsel to raise the arguments again as the case develops. Thursday's ruling does not decide whether Haji Zada will ultimately be deported. The Justice Department must still prove by a preponderance of the evidence that she qualifies as an “alien terrorist” under federal law.
The court's constitutional limits will be tested in real time as the case moves forward, and the Left will keep fighting every step of the way. For the Trump administration, however, Thursday delivered the first critical result: the case is alive, a mother accused of helping plan a massacre on American voters is in custody, and a counterterrorism court that sat idle for 30 years is finally doing the job Congress built it to do.
Editor’s Note: The American people overwhelmingly support President Trump’s law and order agenda.
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