Overview
- The Justice Department filed the first-ever petition in the Alien Terrorist Removal Court to remove Nazira Haji Zada and unsealed an unclassified summary of its allegations.
- An initial public status hearing at the specialized court is scheduled for Thursday after filings and an FBI memo said investigators developed information linking Zada to ISIS sympathies and family members’ 2024 plot.
- The unclassified summary accuses Zada of indoctrinating her children and supporting relatives convicted in an Election Day, ISIS-inspired scheme; she was arrested earlier this week and is a lawful permanent resident.
- The ATRC process gives judges a closed, classified probable-cause review and allows the government to withhold sensitive evidence from the respondent, which legal experts say raises significant constitutional and fairness concerns.
- Created in 1996 and never used until now, the court sits outside routine immigration courts and this test case could set precedent for how the government uses secret evidence in future national-security deportations.