The US Justice Department has convened the Alien Terrorist Removal Court for the first time in its history, seeking to deport a 47-year-old Afghan woman accused of aiding an Islamic State election-day plot.
Nazira Haji Zada, a lawful permanent resident of Fort Worth, Texas, appeared before the Washington court on Thursday, July 30, 2026, after being arrested at her home earlier that week. She faces no criminal charges but is accused of pledging loyalty to the Islamic State and indoctrinating her children with extremist ideology. Her son and son-in-law pleaded guilty in 2025 to terrorism-related charges for planning a mass shooting on Election Day 2024.
Congress created the court in 1996 to handle classified evidence in deportation cases, but no administration had filed an application until now. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stated the case demonstrates a matriarch facilitating an ISIS plot, while Judge Joan Ericksen clarified the proceeding is civil in nature, carrying a lower standard of proof than criminal court.