Federal authorities deported a 47-year-old Afghan woman who previously lived in Fort Worth after she conceded that she is an alien terrorist under federal immigration law in the first case ever brought before the U.S. Alien Terrorist Removal Court.
Federal officials removed Nazira Haji Zada from the United States and returned her to Afghanistan, the Justice Department announced Friday.
ATRC Chief Judge Joan N. Ericksen signed an agreed order of judicial removal on August 20, 2026. Officials from the U.S. Marshals Service and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services took custody of Zada on August 25, 2026, and removed her for transport to Afghanistan, according to a government notice. She arrived there the next day.
First case before specialized court
The Justice Department filed its application on July 15, 2026, making Zada the first person to face a case before the ATRC. She appeared in open court in Washington, D.C., on July 30, 2026.
Federal attorneys used classified information in the case and provided Zada and her two federal public defenders with approximately half a terabyte of documents supporting the removal request, according to the Justice Department.
In an agreed motion filed with the help of her attorneys, Zada conceded that she qualified as an alien terrorist and waived her right to appeal. The order terminated her lawful permanent resident status and permanently barred her from admission to the United States.
“Those who support and condone terrorism should not be living in the United States,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said. He said the case showed that the department would use every available tool to protect the country.
Son and son-in-law pleaded guilty
Zada supported a 2024 ISIS-inspired mass shooting plot involving her son, Abdullah Haji Zada, and her son-in-law, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, according to the Justice Department.
Federal agents arrested the two on October 7, 2024, after they purchased two AK-47-style rifles, 10 magazines and 500 rounds of ammunition from an undercover FBI employee.
Tawhedi pleaded guilty on June 13, 2025, to conspiring and attempting to provide material support to ISIS and to a firearms offense connected to a federal crime of terrorism. He awaits sentencing.
Abdullah was 17 when agents arrested him and later pleaded guilty as an adult. U.S. District Judge Scott L. Palk sentenced him on November 19, 2025, to the statutory maximum of 15 years in federal prison. Abdullah also agreed to a judicial removal order that will send him to Afghanistan after he completes his sentence.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Tawhedi entered the United States through Operation Allies Welcome after the 2021 evacuation from Afghanistan.
Tawhedi admitted Election Day plot
Tawhedi admitted that he conspired with at least one other person between June and October 2024 to obtain the rifles, ammunition and magazines for a mass-casualty attack on or around November 5, 2024, on behalf of ISIS.
Tawhedi communicated with an ISIS facilitator about obtaining firearms and asked whether 500 rounds would be enough for the attack, the criminal complaint said.
Members of the family began selling furniture, computers, a mobile phone and two vehicles to raise money for the attack, according to the complaint. Zada signed a contract to sell the family home. The family also bought one-way tickets to Kabul for her and other minor children, but not for Tawhedi or Abdullah, shortly before Election Day, the filing said.
How the removal court works
Congress created the ATRC in 1996 as a specialized federal court. The Chief Justice of the United States designates five U.S. district judges to serve on it.
The court may order removal when the government proves by a preponderance of the evidence that a foreign national qualifies as a terrorist under federal law, according to the governing statute.
The law permits the government to use classified information when public disclosure could threaten national security. It also provides appointed counsel when necessary and allows either side to appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
The Justice Department’s National Security Division led Zada’s case with assistance from the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service, Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Provided by Dallas Express
