The Alien Terrorist Removal Court, created by Congress in 1996 but never previously used, held its first public hearing. DOJ seeks to remove Nazira Haji Zada, a lawful permanent resident accused of supporting relatives involved in an alleged ISIS-inspired 2024 election-day attack plot.
Zada has not been criminally charged. Chief Judge Joan Ericksen rejected an immediate request to dismiss the case and release her, while allowing the defense to renew its motions. DOJ says classified evidence is necessary to protect intelligence sources; Zada’s attorney argues that relying on secret evidence in a deportation proceeding violates due process.
Last year, her son Abdullah Haji Zada and son-in-law Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi each pleaded guilty in a federal court in Oklahoma to purchasing two AK-47 style rifles and 500 rounds of ammunition from an undercover FBI agent as part of an alleged plot targeting the 2024 election in support of the Islamic State.
At the time of his arrest in 2024, Zada's son was only 17. He was charged as an adult and pleaded guilty to gun crimes when he was 18. Tawhedi pleaded guilty to terrorism and gun offenses.
In an unclassified FBI summary filed in the Alien Terrorist Removal Court, the government alleged that Zada "supported" her son and son-in-law's conspiracy. The FBI also alleged she "pledged loyalty to ISIS" and "worked to indoctrinate her children with ISIS ideology," citing information from a "reliable source."
"Nazira worked with Tawhedi to radicalize the family and to conceal their pro-ISIS teaching and planned family relocation to ISIS-controlled territory from her unsuspecting husband," the FBI wrote.


















