TEXAS, United States: Nazira Haji Zada was deported after the Justice Department pursued her removal through a rarely used national-security court, the department announced Friday.
The 47-year-old Afghan permanent resident chose to leave the United States rather than continue challenging the case before the Alien Terrorist Removal Court, according to the Justice Department.
Congress created the court in 1996 to handle removal cases involving classified national-security evidence that the government says it cannot disclose through the ordinary immigration process.
People facing proceedings before the court, including lawful permanent residents, cannot review classified evidence against them.
They also cannot challenge how that evidence was gathered, as defendants can in criminal proceedings.
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Haji Zada has never been charged with a crime. However, her son Abdullah Haji Zada and son-in-law Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi were convicted over a plot to carry out an ISIS-inspired mass shooting on Election Day in 2024.
The Justice Department alleged that Haji Zada supported their plans and tried to radicalise her children in support of ISIS.
The department said it provided her lawyers with about half a terabyte of documents and said she ultimately “conceded” its terrorism allegation and waived an appeal of the removal order.
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Attorney General Todd Blanche called the case the first completed proceeding before the Alien Terrorist Removal Court and said the department would continue using national-security authorities in similar cases.
