The United States has deported an Afghan woman to Afghanistan following a landmark legal case that utilized a secretive federal court for the first time in its three-decade history.

Nazira Haji Zada, a 47-year-old lawful permanent resident from Fort Worth, Texas, agreed to be removed from the country after conceding in court that she is an “alien terrorist”.

The Department of Justice stated that Haji Zada supported an Islamic State-inspired plot to carry out a mass shooting in the U.S. around Election Day in 2024. While she was not criminally charged, her son and son-in-law were previously arrested and convicted on terrorism-related offenses after attempting to acquire weapons from an undercover FBI agent.

The case marks the inaugural deployment of the Alien Terrorist Removal Court (ATRC), established by Congress under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996. The tribunal was designed to expedite the deportation of non-citizens classified as national security threats by utilizing classified evidence that is withheld from public disclosure.

U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche hailed the outcome, calling it a “landmark case” and “a win for national security and the rule of law”.

Defense attorneys argued that the proceedings lacked standard constitutional protections and due process. Public defenders Matthew Farley and Mary Manning Petras emphasized that their client’s consent to removal should not be viewed as an endorsement of the court’s legitimacy, maintaining that restricting access to classified evidence remains a serious legal concern.

Following the finalization of the removal order, Haji Zada has been permanently barred from returning to the United States.