An Afghan woman living in Texas, whose son and son-in-law were convicted of plotting an Election Day mass killing in 2024, had a public removal hearing Thursday, the first case before the Alien Terrorist Removal Court.
The Justice Department says Nazira Haji Zada, 47, of Fort Worth, Texas, is being removed for her role in a plot involving her son, Abdullah Haji Zada, and son-in-law, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi. The pair were arrested in October 2024 after buying guns and ammunition from an undercover FBI employee that to be used in an Election Day attack. The Justice Department asserts the planned shooting was inspired by the terrorist group ISIS. Zada, a legal permanent resident, is challenging the constitutionality of her deportation order.
The case marks the first public session of the Alien Terrorist Removal Court, a specialized federal court that Congress established in 1996. The court has jurisdiction to remove foreign terrorists from the United States when the government establishes by a preponderance of the evidence that an alien is a terrorist. The secretive court allows the government to produce classified information to use in prosecution.
Judge Joan Ericksen, the chief judge of the court, denied a request that Haji Zada be immediately released after a 45-minute hearing, CNN reported. But the issue of the constitutionality of the court could likely drag on.
Matthew Farley, a federal public defender representing Zada, said, “This entire scheme is in violation of due process and is unconstitutional.”
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a public statement ahead of the hearing, “Congress created the Alien Terrorist Removal Court three decades ago to remove from the United States 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,” Blanche continued. “The Department’s application in this court makes clear that terrorists have no place in the United States of America.”
Zada’s son Abdullah was 17 at the time of his arrest. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. As part of the plea agreement, Abdullah agreed to a judicial order of removal from the United States to Afghanistan after his incarceration. He acknowledged that the order of removal would terminate his lawful permanent resident status and waived his right to appeal.
Her son-in-law Tawhedi, 28, pleaded guilty on June 13, 2025, to two terrorism-related offenses: conspiring and attempting to provide material support and resources to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS.
Tawhedi admitted that between June 2024 and October 2024, he conspired with at least one other individual to purchase two AK-47 rifles, 500 rounds of ammunition, and 10 magazines, with the intent to carry out a mass-casualty attack on or around Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024, on behalf of ISIS, according to the Justice Department. The criminal complaint said Tawhedi communicated with an ISIS facilitator about his plan.
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