An Afghan woman who federal authorities say plotted an ISIS-inspired mass shooting on Election Day 2024 has been deported, the Justice Department announced Friday, in what officials describe as the first case ever to go before a secretive immigration court created nearly three decades ago.
Nazira Haji Zada, 47, lived in Fort Worth, Texas, before her removal. The Alien Terrorist Removal Court (ATRC) issued her deportation order on August 20, and the order was unsealed Friday after she had already left the United States.
The announcement landed on the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, when al-Qaeda terrorists killed 2,977 people on U.S. soil.
A family plot, and a sprawling federal case
Authorities say Zada conspired with two relatives: her son, Abdullah Haji Zada, and her son-in-law, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi. Both men were arrested on October 7, 2024, after buying firearms and ammunition they allegedly intended to use in the attack, according to federal officials.
Abdullah Haji Zada, who was 17 at the time, entered a guilty plea as an adult and received a 15-year prison sentence. As a green card holder, he agreed as part of the plea to his eventual deportation to Afghanistan after serving his time.
Tawhedi, 28, pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring and attempting to provide material support and resources to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, along with receiving, attempting to receive and conspiring to receive firearms and ammunition in furtherance of a federal crime of terrorism. He has not yet been sentenced.
Court documents say that between June and October 2024, Tawhedi worked with at least one other person to purchase two AK-47 rifles, 500 rounds of ammunition and 10 magazines with the intent to carry out a mass shooting on behalf of ISIS. He communicated with an ISIS facilitator about the plans and asked the unnamed terrorist whether 500 rounds would be enough, according to the documents.
The family also began liquidating its assets in 2024 to fund the plot, selling furniture, computers, a cell phone and two cars, the Justice Department said. Zada signed a contract to sell the family home as well. Before Election Day, the relatives bought one-way airline tickets to Kabul, Afghanistan, for Zada and other minor children.
Classified evidence and a 1996 court used for the first time
The ATRC, established by Congress in 1996, was designed to allow the government to remove alleged alien terrorists using classified information that would not be disclosed in open court. Until this case, it had never been used.
An application to deport Zada was filed on July 15, and she appeared before ATRC Chief Judge Joan N. Ericksen for the first time on July 30. Prosecutors provided Zada and her legal team approximately half a terabyte of documents to support their case, according to the Justice Department, even as they relied on classified evidence to prove she was an alien terrorist.
Zada ultimately admitted to being an alien terrorist, waived her right to appeal the deportation order and saw her immigration status terminated.
“From the moment President Trump took office, he made clear that his Administration would put the safety and security of the American people first,” Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement Friday. “The President’s direction to use the Alien Terrorist Removal Court to expel Nazira Haji Zada, an Afghan national who plotted with members of her family to carry out an ISIS-inspired attack on American soil, delivers on that promise.”
Mullin added that the deportation order was now final, saying those who plot terrorism against the United States “have no place in our country.”
“We will find them, and we will use every lawful tool available to remove them,” he said.
The case marks a notable expansion of the government’s counterterrorism toolbox. For years the ATRC remained dormant, its procedures unfamiliar to most immigration attorneys and even some federal prosecutors. Its use here signals that the Trump administration is willing to deploy specialized courts that had previously been overlooked in the fight against suspected terrorists.
Immigration enforcement has been a central pillar of President Trump’s second term, with deportations of criminal aliens and national security threats given particular priority. Friday’s announcement fits that pattern, coming on a day heavy with symbolic resonance.
Authorities did not say where Zada was sent, though court records indicate Afghanistan as the intended destination.
Source: www.dailywire.com — https://www.dailywire.com/news/feds-deport-terrorist-who-plotted-isis-inspired-election-day-attack-in-first-of-its-kind-case