The facts
An Afghan woman, Nazira Haji Zada, 47, has been deported to Afghanistan in the first use of the U.S. Alien Terrorist Removal Court (ATRC), a federal court established 30 years ago. The Department of Justice (DOJ) stated Zada admitted to being an "alien terrorist" and waived her appeal. U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche called the case a "win for national security and the rule of law." Zada's son and son-in-law were previously convicted for their alleged involvement in an ISIS-inspired mass shooting plot on Election Day 2024. FBI Director Kash Patel described the deportation as a "historic and vitally important step." Zada's attorneys stated her consent to removal should not be seen as an endorsement of the court's legitimacy, arguing it violates due process.
Our take
It took three decades, but the government has finally found a use for its Alien Terrorist Removal Court: removing an alien who admits she's a terrorist. What a fucking miracle of jurisprudence. This Kafkaesque Star Chamber, authorized in 1996, apparently spent the last thirty years in a storage locker next to the Ark of the Covenant, waiting for someone to wave an appeal and say, "Yeah, fine, I'm it."
Attorney General Todd Blanche is calling this a landmark for national security. The landmark is that they remembered the password to the court's basement door. They dragged a 47-year-old woman from Texas into a legal black hole where her own lawyers aren't allowed to see the evidence, and her landmark contribution was to shrug and get on the plane. This isn't a triumph of the rule of law; it's the rule of 'Fuck it, we're tired.'
Her son and son-in-law are already doing hard time for plotting an Election Day massacre with guns bought from an undercover FBI agent. The family's big plan involved selling their shit and buying one-way tickets to Kabul. Mom's role was apparently so legally bulletproof that the only tool the DOJ could use was a zombie court from the Clinton era that everyone forgot to challenge. Her lawyers say the whole setup is a due process violation waiting to be struck down, but who has the time? She already left.
So congratulations, America. You've successfully used a legal codicil older than TikTok to deport a grandma who copped to a label. The machinery of state security is now officially a garage sale where the only thing that works is the thing you never tested. Next time, maybe try using a regular courtroom. They have windows.
We protected the homeland by finally reading the manual.
