DHS Announces First-of-Its-Kind Deportation – Afghan Woman Removed from Texas After Admitting to Being Terrorist

The Trump administration made the first-ever use of the Alien Terrorist Removal Court this week in the case of an Afghan woman who admitted to being a terrorist.

Nazira Haji Zada, 47, who had been living in Fort Worth, Texas, has been deported, according to a Department of Homeland Security news release.

Zada had sought to help family members who were convicted in plot to commit a mass shooting in support of the Islamic State on Election Day 2024.

DHS noted that the Alien Terrorist Removal Court was established decades ago, but had never been used before.

Breaking: DHS just removed Nazira Haji Zada, a 47-year-old Afghan national who had been living in Fort Worth, Texas, after she conceded she is an alien terrorist.

This was the first case ever brought before the United States Alien Terrorist Removal Court, a specialized… pic.twitter.com/EDv3DVcbn8

— Kim “Katie” USA (@KimKatieUSA) September 16, 2026

“With her lawyers, Zada conceded that she is an alien terrorist and waived appeal of the removal order,” the release said.

“From the moment President Trump took office, he made clear that his Administration would put the safety and security of the American people first,”  DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said.

“The President’s direction to use the Alien Terrorist Removal Court to expel Nazira Haji Zada, an Afghan national who plotted with members of her family to carry out an ISIS-inspired attack on American soil, delivers on that promise,” he said.

“Thanks to the President’s leadership and the coordinated efforts of the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice, and State, Nazira Haji Zada’s final order of removal is now FINAL. Those who plot acts of terrorism against the United States have no place in our country. We will find them, and we will remove them,” he said.

“This landmark case, resulting in the prompt removal of this alien terrorist to her country of origin, is a win for national security and the rule of law,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said.

“An individual who supported a plot by ISIS-sympathizing family members to commit an attack in America has paid the price for that. She came to our country, betrayed it, and has now lost the right to live here and enjoy our democratic freedoms,” FBI Director Kash Patel said.

“This FBI and our Justice Department partners will protect the American people from the threat of terrorism, using all means necessary.”

Abdullah Haji Zada, the son of Nazira Haji Zada, and her son-in-law, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, were arrested in 2024 after buying weapons from an undercover FBI agent.

Abdullah Haji Zada is currently serving a 15-year sentence and will be deported after he is out of prison.

DHS Announces Removal of Alien Terrorist in First Use of United States Alien Terrorist Removal Court https://t.co/CQmIOM71Pq

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) September 16, 2026

Tawhedi is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to two terrorism-related offenses: conspiring and attempting to provide material support and resources to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a designated foreign terrorist organization, and receiving, attempting to receive, and conspiring to receive firearms and ammunition in furtherance of a federal crime of terrorism.

“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,” Blanche said when charges were filed against Nazira Haji Zada, according to a Department of Justice news release.

“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,” he said.

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