The U.S. Department of Justice announced that Nazira Haji Zada, a 47-year-old Afghan permanent resident living in Texas, had been removed from the country. According to the department, the case was the first to be handled by the Alien Terrorist Removal Court (ATRC).
Haji Zada chose to leave the United States rather than continue her case before the ATRC. No criminal case was filed against her.
How the ATRC operates
Established in 1996, the ATRC gives the government authority in cases involving national security where classified information cannot be disclosed to the public and individuals cannot be removed through the traditional legal system.
Permanent residents can also be among those whose cases are handled by the court. People facing removal proceedings cannot see the classified evidence against them. Unlike defendants in criminal cases, they also cannot challenge the methods the government used to obtain that evidence.
Cases involving Haji Zada’s family members
Haji Zada’s son, Abdullah Haji Zada, and her son-in-law, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, were tried and convicted in cases linked to a plan to carry out a mass shooting on Election Day in 2024.
The Department of Justice said it had provided Haji Zada’s attorneys with half a terabyte of documents that it said supported the allegation. The department also stated that Haji Zada had acknowledged being a “foreign terrorist,” waived her right to challenge the removal order and had her previous status terminated.
U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche described the case as a significant national security success. Blanche said people who support or tolerate terrorism should not live in the United States and stated that the department would use every tool at its disposal to protect the country’s security.
