First-Ever Use of Dormant Alien Terrorist Removal Court Deportation Marks Major Expansion of Executive Power
The Trump administration has activated a specialized, secretive federal court that had sat dormant for thirty years since its creation by Congress in 1996.1 On September 11, 2026, the Department of Justice announced the first-ever completed deportation under the Alien Terrorist Removal Court (ATRC), expelling Nazira Haji Zada, a 47-year-old Afghan national and lawful permanent resident who had been living in Fort Worth, Texas. Zada conceded to being an "alien terrorist" and waived her appeal rights to be deported to Afghanistan, following allegations that she supported an ISIS-inspired mass shooting plot planned by her son and son-in-law for Election Day 2024.
This historic activation of the ATRC bypasses the traditional criminal justice system, utilizing classified evidence and a lower standard of proof to deport permanent residents. It represents a significant consolidation of executive deportation powers.
Key Evidence
-
Unprecedented Activation of Secretive Court: The DOJ confirmed that this is the first case ever prosecuted under the ATRC:
"This was the first case ever brought before the ATRC, which Congress established decades ago, and which no previous administration had used." — Department of Justice Press Release
-
Attorneys Challenge Court's Legitimacy: Zada's federal public defenders challenged the constitutionality of the proceedings and the withholding of evidence, stating that her decision to accept deportation rather than continue litigating should not validate the court:
"Haji Zada's attorneys said in a statement that their client's choice to consent to the removal 'should not be seen as an endorsement of this court's legitimacy.'" — NPR Article
Legal and Political Implications
The ATRC allows the federal government to present classified national security evidence to an Article III judge without disclosing it to the public or the deportee's defense counsel. The Trump administration's willingness to deploy this forgotten statutory tool underscores a broader "maximum warfare" approach to immigration enforcement and national security, establishing a powerful precedent for the swift removal of permanent residents suspected of security threats without public criminal trials.
-
An instance of Peacetime deportations escape judicial review under resurrected national security laws. — The administration resurrected a decades-old, national security-focused deportation court to bypass traditional criminal justice standards. ↩︎