WASHINGTON — A 47-year-old Afghan woman who had lived in Fort Worth, Texas, as a legal permanent resident has been deported after conceding she is an “alien terrorist.”
Her deportation marked the first use of a specialized federal court created to remove people from the United States on national-security grounds, the Justice Department announced Friday.
Nazira Haji Zada left the United States after the Alien Terrorist Removal Court (ATRC) ordered her deportation on Aug. 20.
Congress created the court in 1996, but no administration had previously brought a case before it.
The order stayed sealed until Friday, when officials made it public after Zada had reached her country of origin.
Zada entered the United States in March 2018 as the derivative spouse on her husband’s immigrant visa.
An ICE declaration says her husband had worked for or on behalf of the U.S. government at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan from 2009 to 2016.
Her case grew out of an ISIS-inspired plot to carry out a mass shooting around Election Day 2024. Two of her male relatives, her son and son-in-law, were arrested and later pleaded guilty to terrorism-related offenses.
Zada herself was never criminally charged. Instead, prosecutors pursued her deportation through the ATRC.
An unclassified review of Zada’s immigration and criminal history, including an ICE check of her file and a search of the FBI’s National Crime Information Center, “revealed no criminal history for respondent,” according to records unsealed with the filings. That review alone did not establish grounds for her expulsion under ordinary immigration law.
A separate classified FBI affidavit formed the basis for what the government described as probable cause that Zada was an “alien terrorist” under federal statute.
The proceedings moved from application to deportation in less than two months.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche certified the government submission on June 30, according to the filings.
Prosecutors led by Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Hayden O’Byrne of the Justice Department’s National Security Division filed it two weeks later, on July 15.
Zada appeared before ATRC Chief Judge Joan N. Ericksen on July 30 with two federally appointed public defenders. She was given access to roughly half a terabyte of evidence.
With her lawyers present, Zada conceded that she was an “alien terrorist” and waived her right to appeal. The concession terminated her lawful permanent resident status and left her permanently inadmissible to the United States, the department said.
“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,” Blanche said in a statement. “Those who support and condone terrorism should not be living in the United States.”
FBI Director Kash Patel called it “a historic and vitally important step” in protecting the United States from terrorism. Zada, he said, “came to our country, betrayed it, and has now lost the right to live here.”
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin credited President Trump’s direction in using the court. Coordinated work by DHS, the Justice Department and the State Department, he said, meant Zada’s “final order of removal is now FINAL.”
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg said Zada “abused our Nation’s hospitality” while “she enjoyed the privilege of residing here as a resident alien.”
The events behind Zada’s deportation began with the October 2024 arrest of her son, Abdullah Haji Zada, then 17, and her son-in-law, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 28.
Prosecutors accused the pair of obtaining two AK-47-style rifles and 500 rounds of ammunition from an undercover FBI employee for a planned mass-casualty attack around Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024.
Abdullah pleaded guilty as an adult and received the statutory maximum of 15 years in prison. His plea agreement also required him not to contest a separate order removing him to Afghanistan after his sentence.
Tawhedi pleaded guilty in June 2025 to conspiring to provide material support to ISIS and to a firearms-related terrorism charge. He was awaiting sentencing.
Court filings describe preparations beyond the weapons purchase. In the months before the planned attack, the family began selling possessions, including furniture, computers, a phone and two vehicles.
Zada signed a contract to sell the family’s house and bought one-way tickets to Kabul for several family members, including herself and minor children, but not Abdullah or Tawhedi.
The ATRC allows classified evidence in removal proceedings when disclosure could threaten national security and provides paid counsel to respondents when necessary. Either side may appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
