‘Alien Terrorist Removal Court,’ created in 1996, holds first-ever hearing

The Justice Department is seeking to deport a Texas mom whose kin conspired to launch an ISIS-inspired terrorist attack. She hasn’t been charged with a crime.

WASHINGTON — A 47-year-old Texas mom whose son and son-in-law were convicted of conspiring to launch an ISIS-inspired attack made history Thursday by becoming the first person to appear before a court created by Congress in 1996 to speed up the deportation of “alien terrorists.”

Nazira Haji Zada, who has not been charged with a crime, appeared in the Alien Terrorist Removal Court before Chief Judge Joan Ericksen, who normally serves as a federal judge in Minnesota.

Under the framework of the court, the U.S. can attempt to remove noncitizens from the country upon representing them as an alien terrorist under a lower standard than would be required to convict them of a criminal charge. Appeals from that court would be made to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Nazira, who lives in Fort Worth, Texas, had been arrested earlier this week. She was described by the Justice Department as “the matriarch of an alien Afghan family.”

The DOJ filed an application on July 15 to have her removed from the U.S. for her alleged role in a plot to disrupt Election Day in 2024 with a mass shooting.