Alien Terrorist Removal Court Victory
The Alien Terrorist Removal Court sat unused for thirty years. Congress built it in 1996 for one job: deport people the government calls terrorists using classified intelligence they may never see. On Thursday the Justice Department announced the court’s first result — and the court unsealed the docket that shows how it got there.
The respondent was Nazira Haji Zada, 47, an Afghan national and lawful permanent resident since 2018, living in Fort Worth. In October 2024 the FBI arrested her son and son-in-law for an ISIS-inspired plot to attack on Election Day; both pleaded guilty in federal court in Oklahoma. According to the government’s filings, she pledged loyalty to ISIS, a daughter told the FBI she made the children pledge too, and eight one-way tickets to Afghanistan — every member of the family except the two men who planned to die as martyrs — arrived in her email. She was never criminally charged.
On July 15 the Acting Attorney General filed the court’s first-ever application, under seal. On July 28 the FBI took her from her home to a D.C. jail. Her public defender held a security clearance; the government refused to show him the evidence. The judge cancelled the release hearing on August 10, set a new one on August 19 for August 27 — and on August 20 she signed. She conceded she is an “alien terrorist” as defined in Title 8, waived the hearing, waived the unclassified summary of the evidence, waived appeal, waived asylum and torture protection, and secured one clause in return: the admission cannot be used against her in a criminal court. She was removed to Afghanistan on August 25 and is permanently inadmissible.
That is what the court is for. It takes an intelligence assessment — the kind you cannot put in front of a jury without burning the source — and turns it into a removal order. No cross-examination, no verdict, no appeal, and in this case no ruling on whether any of it is constitutional. The government’s brief also notes, on page eleven, that a daughter is “currently detained pending removal.” The second case is already in the building.
Eric Garland is an intelligence analyst personally sanctioned by the Russian Federation in May 2022 for his work on Russian intelligence operations. He is the author of the 2016 “Game Theory” thread, named by The New York Times as one of the 25 most important tweets in history.
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SOURCES
United States Alien Terrorist Removal Court, Case No. 2026-TRC-1, public docket — Agreed Motion to Enter Agreed Order of Judicial Removal and Order of Judicial Removal (Ericksen, C.J.), August 20, 2026; Government Notice of Removal, August 26, 2026 (removal August 25); Order Granting Motion to Unseal, September 10, 2026. Government’s Memorandum in Support of Detention, filed August 17, 2026 — FBI unclassified summary; house sale and airline tickets; “As the family’s matriarch, Respondent either was aware, or should have been aware”; daughter “currently detained pending removal.” Respondent’s Motion for a Prompt Release Hearing, filed August 14, 2026 — arrest July 28; cleared counsel denied access to the evidence; constitutional challenge. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, “Department of Justice Files First Case in U.S. Alien Terrorist Removal Court,” July 30, 2026; DOJ announcement of removal, September 11, 2026 (Attorney General Todd Blanche). United States v. Tawhedi, No. 5:24-cr-00467 (W.D. Okla.) — guilty plea June 13, 2025; United States v. Zada, No. 5:25-cr-00151 (W.D. Okla.) — 15-year sentence, November 19, 2025. 8 U.S.C. §§ 1531–1537 (Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, Title IV) — composition of the court, classified-evidence procedure, detention and removal. NPR, “Alien Terrorist Removal Court holds its first-ever hearing after 30 years,” July 30, 2026. Associated Press; CNN, September 11, 2026 — deportation confirmed; docket unsealed. Central Intelligence Agency, release of declassified President’s Daily Briefs, February 1998 – September 12, 2001, September 11, 2026 (via PBS NewsHour, CNN).
