The Justice Department has activated a federal court that sat dormant for three decades to seek the deportation of an Afghan national accused of helping her family plan an ISIS-inspired mass shooting targeting American voters on Election Day 2024.

Nazira Haji Zada, a 47-year-old Afghan national living in Fort Worth, Texas, stood before Alien Terrorist Removal Court Chief Judge Joan N. Ericksen in Washington, D.C., on Thursday after the DOJ filed its first-ever case in the specialized tribunal. Her attorney's motion to dismiss was denied on the spot. The government says Haji Zada helped orchestrate a plot that included her 28-year-old son-in-law buying two AK-47 rifles, 500 rounds of ammunition, and 10 magazines from an undercover FBI worker, then asking an ISIS facilitator whether 500 rounds would be enough for the shooting.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche framed the case as a test of a tool Congress built but never used. The DOJ announced that Haji Zada allegedly played a direct role in schemes to carry out a mass-casualty attack on American voters, and that the ATRC, a court designed to remove terrorist aliens without forcing the government to reveal classified intelligence, was the right venue to do it.

Two AK-47s, 500 rounds, and a question to ISIS

The plot, as described in the DOJ press release and underlying court filings, centered on Haji Zada's son-in-law, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 28, and her son, Abdullah Haji Zada, who was 17 at the time of his arrest. Both were taken into custody in October 2024 after purchasing firearms and ammunition from an undercover FBI worker.

Tawhedi pleaded guilty in June 2025 to two terrorism-related crimes, including conspiring to provide resources to ISIS. A criminal complaint affidavit cited by the DOJ states that Tawhedi asked an ISIS facilitator whether 500 rounds would be enough for the planned shooting. Abdullah Haji Zada also pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

The family's preparation went beyond weapons. The DOJ says the Haji Zada family began liquidating assets in 2024, selling furniture, computers, a mobile phone, and two vehicles to fund the attack. Nazira Haji Zada personally signed the contract selling the family's house. The family also secured one-way airplane tickets she would have used to fly to Afghanistan with the children shortly before the planned attack date.

That date was Election Day 2024. The arrests in October 2024 appear to have stopped the plot before it could be carried out.

A 30-year-old court, never used until now

Congress created the Alien Terrorist Removal Court in 1996 as part of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act. The court was designed to let the government deport aliens linked to terrorism without disclosing classified information in a traditional immigration proceeding. Five judges, appointed by the chief justice to five-year terms, sit on the ATRC. Only one judge is needed to grant the government's application.

For three decades, no administration filed a single case. The court lay dormant until the DOJ submitted a sealed application this month. Chief Judge Ericksen issued an order accepting the application, finding that there was probable cause to believe Haji Zada "has been correctly identified and is an alien terrorist present in the United States." The broader immigration enforcement push has included record-high deportation flights and warnings to illegal immigrants to leave voluntarily or face arrest.

Under federal law, membership in a terrorist organization, endorsing terrorist activity, or intending to participate in activities that could endanger the welfare, safety, or security of the United States can all result in an alien being prosecuted as a terrorist. The ATRC process requires the attorney general to submit a sealed application. Once a judge grants it, the court holds a public hearing. The accused alien is represented by counsel, and the government provides an unclassified summary of the evidence. Classified information stays protected.

Ericksen's order acknowledged that the litigation remains at an "early stage of the multi-phase process" but emphasized that combating terrorism is "an urgent objective of the highest order." She also cited Supreme Court precedent, noting that while national security concerns "do not warrant abdication of the judicial role," courts should give "respect for the Government's conclusions" when drawing factual inferences in this area.

Blanche calls the ATRC filing a message: 'Terrorists have no place' here

Acting Attorney General Blanche did not treat the filing as routine. In a statement released Thursday, he drew a direct line between the dormant court and the current case:

"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."

He went further, describing Haji Zada's alleged role in blunt terms:

"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. The Department's application in this court makes clear that terrorists have no place in the United States of America."

Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg echoed the rationale for using the ATRC rather than a standard removal proceeding. The court, he said, "embodies the recognition that the government should not have to choose between allowing a dangerous alien to remain in the United States and disclosing sensitive classified information in a traditional removal proceeding." The case fits within a broader pattern of enforcement actions targeting individuals with alleged ties to hostile foreign actors, including a recent move by Secretary of State Rubio to revoke the legal status of an alleged Cuban regime operative and order that individual's family detained for removal.

Haji Zada's arrest came in late July as the court prepared to hear the case

Nazira Haji Zada was arrested in late July 2026, shortly before the DOJ's filing. Her son-in-law and son had already been convicted and sentenced. The DOJ press release and the FBI Oklahoma City field office both publicized the case on Thursday, with the FBI posting on X that the filing marked the first-ever use of the ATRC.

Several questions remain unanswered. The DOJ has not detailed Haji Zada's specific immigration status, whether she entered the country as a refugee, visa holder, or permanent resident. Her precise role in the plot, beyond signing the house sale contract and arranging one-way tickets, has not been publicly spelled out. The identity of the ISIS facilitator Tawhedi communicated with has not been disclosed. And the name of Haji Zada's defense attorney, who argued unsuccessfully for dismissal at Thursday's hearing, has not been made public.

The case also raises a structural question: why did it take 30 years and an alleged Election Day terror plot for any administration to use a court Congress specifically built for this purpose? The ATRC was designed to solve a real problem, the tension between removing dangerous aliens and protecting intelligence sources. That no prior Justice Department found a case worthy of the court says less about the court's design than about the political will of the departments that ignored it. Meanwhile, Congress has moved to fund enforcement more aggressively, with the Senate passing a $70 billion immigration enforcement bill in a pre-dawn vote earlier this year.

The immigration debate has also drawn international attention, with broader pressures on Western governments to address security failures linked to lax enforcement. President Trump recently pointed to immigration failures in the United Kingdom as a sign of political consequences ahead for leaders who refuse to act.

A family in Fort Worth allegedly sold its house, bought rifles, and booked one-way flights to carry out a massacre of American voters, and for three decades, the one federal court built to handle exactly this kind of case collected dust. The tool finally got used. The question now is whether it stays sharp.