WASHINGTON — The Trump administration's activation of a long-dormant court to seek an Afghan woman's deportation violates her constitutional rights, a defense lawyer argued Thursday at a hearing for the first case to be heard in the obscure court since its creation 30 years ago.
The woman's attorney, Matthew Farley, urged the chief judge of the Alien Terrorist Removal Court to dismiss the case against Nazira Haji Zada and immediately release his client, who the government alleges is an Islamic State supporter. Judge Joan Ericksen denied Farley's requests but said Zada's lawyers can renew them as the case proceeds in the nation's capital.
“This entire scheme is in violation of due process and unconstitutional,” said Farley, an assistant federal public defender.
The case against Zada opens a new, untested front for President Donald Trump’s aggressive deportation campaign, which has flooded the nation’s federal court system with immigration proceedings, sometimes based on novel or shaky legal foundations.
The court, established in 1996, had never received a petition until this month, when the Justice Department filed an application seeking Zada's removal. The court has a specific authority to conduct deportation proceedings for individuals whom the Department of Justice classifies as “alien terrorists.”
FBI agents arrested her Tuesday at her Fort Worth, Texas, home. She is not charged with any crimes.
“This is a runaround for bringing a criminal case,” Farley said during the court's first-ever public hearing.
Ericksen, a senior judge who sits in Minnesota and was nominated to the bench by Republican President George W. Bush, acknowledged that the court was operating without a clear blueprint.
“We probably read the same law review articles. There aren't that many,” the judge told Farley.
An FBI memo dated July 15 said it "developed information" that Zada is an IS supporter who had her children pledge their loyalty to the terrorist group. The memo says she "supported" a plot by relatives to carry out an ISIS-inspired attack in the United States.
Zada is a lawful permanent resident of the U.S. Court filings identify her as the mother and mother-in-law of two Afghan men who were convicted in Oklahoma for their roles in the 2024 Election Day plot. Her son, Abdullah Haji Zada, was sentenced in November to 15 years in prison and court records show he previously agreed to be removed from the U.S. after his release.
Her son-in-law, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, previously worked as a security guard for an American military installation in Afghanistan. He pleaded guilty to conspiring and attempting to provide material support to IS. Prosecutors have said he took steps to advance his attack plans by ordering AK-47 rifles, liquidating his family's assets and buying one-way tickets for his wife and child to travel home to Afghanistan.
Zada was led into the courtroom by U.S. Marshals Service deputies. Interpreters translated the proceedings for Zada, who answered the judge's questions with head nods instead of words. The judge cautioned that the court was still in the process of building up its “infrastructure.”
“This is not a criminal matter,” the judge told her. “This is a civil matter that arises under the immigration code.”
Justice Department attorney Hayden O'Byrne read aloud a brief summary of the case but noted that the FBI's investigation of Zada involves classified information that cannot be made public. The judge assured Zada that the federal courts routinely handle cases involving classified information, even though her case is the first of its kind.
Eriksen one of five federal judges from different districts across the country who are appointed to the court by the chief justice of the United States.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement that Congress created the court to deport “alien terrorists who never should have been here in the first place.”
“The allegations in this case show the matriarch of an ISIS-sympathizing family aiding in a plot to launch a mass casualty attack on American voters on Election Day. The Department’s application in this court makes clear that terrorists have no place in the United States of America,” Blanche added.
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