Every few years, some politician stands behind a podium and swears the government has everything it needs to protect Americans from foreign terrorists on our own soil. The tools are in place, they tell us. The laws are on the books. Sleep well. Meanwhile, entire legal frameworks designed to remove terrorist aliens from this country sit untouched — not because they failed, but because nobody in charge ever bothered to use them. That kind of negligence isn’t reassuring. It’s insulting.

Well, someone finally bothered. For the first time in thirty years, the Department of Justice has activated a court that Congress specifically built to deport aliens tied to terrorism. Thirty years. That’s not a backlog problem. That’s a willpower problem. And apparently, it took an ISIS-inspired plot to massacre American voters to shake the cobwebs loose.

From The Post Millennial:

The Justice Department has confirmed the launch of its first-ever case in the US Alien Terrorist Removal Court, seeking to deport an Afghan woman accused of helping her family prepare an ISIS-inspired mass shooting targeting Americans on Election Day 2024.

Facing deportation is Nazira Haji Zada, 47, the matriarch of an Afghan family living in Fort Worth, Texas, after helping to support the terror plot orchestrated by her son, Abdullah Haji Zada, and son-in-law, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, who have already pleaded guilty or been convicted in connection with the attack plan.

Read that again if you need to. A family living in Fort Worth — not in some distant war zone, not in a surveillance black hole, but in Texas — was allegedly working in concert to gun down Americans on Election Day. That’s not a hypothetical threat briefing. That happened.

A coordinated family operation

Forget the lone-wolf narrative. This plot was a family affair. According to court documents, the Haji Zada family sold their home, their cars, their furniture — everything — to bankroll the attack. Nazira signed the property sale contract herself and purchased one-way tickets to Afghanistan for herself and the family’s children. The design was brutally straightforward: evacuate the women and kids, leave the men behind to pull the triggers.

Her son-in-law, Tawhedi, and her son, Abdullah, then purchased two AK-47 rifles, 500 rounds of ammunition, and 10 magazines from an undercover FBI employee. Tawhedi admitted — his own words — that he intended to carry out a mass-casualty attack on or around Election Day on behalf of ISIS. Abdullah was 17 at the time. He pleaded guilty as an adult and drew 15 years in federal prison. Upon release, he gets a one-way trip to Afghanistan with no right to ever seek asylum again.

The FBI intercepted the plot in October 2024. Good. But here’s the part that should gnaw at every taxpaying citizen: what tool is the DOJ using to remove the woman who allegedly orchestrated the logistics?

A court that collected dust for three decades

The Alien Terrorist Removal Court. Congress created it in 1996 as a specialized tribunal designed to deport non-citizens tied to terrorism while safeguarding classified national security information. It is precise, powerful, and purpose-built. Not a single administration — Republican or Democrat — ever activated it. Not after 9/11. Not after the Boston Marathon bombing. Not once.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche didn’t mince words: Congress created the court to remove terrorists who “never should have been here in the first place.” FBI Director Kash Patel called it a historic milestone, declaring, “No one should be allowed to come into our country and then betray it.”

Both men are correct. But let’s be honest with ourselves — one case is a proof of concept, not a victory lap.

One case cannot be the finish line

The DOJ deserves recognition for finally deploying this authority. Nazira Haji Zada was arrested this week and is scheduled to appear before Chief Judge Joan N. Ericksen of the Alien Terrorist Removal Court in Washington, DC. That’s progress. Real, tangible progress.

But progress isn’t a policy. If this court was worth creating in 1996, it was worth using in 2001, in 2009, in 2013, and every year since. How many terror-linked aliens were funneled through slower, weaker channels because no one had the spine to flip the switch on this tribunal? How many slipped through entirely?

The DOJ must treat this case as a beginning. Every illegal alien with credible ties to terrorism should face this court. The institutional muscle must be built to use it routinely, aggressively, and without a shred of apology. This is not a partisan position. It is the bare minimum expectation of a government that takes its first duty seriously.

That first duty — the one that comes before everything else — is protecting American citizens. Not preserving bureaucratic comfort. Not tiptoeing around critics. Not extending legal courtesy to foreign nationals who came here to wage war against us. The tool exists. It works. The DOJ proved it this week. Now keep going. Thirty years of inaction is enough.

Key Takeaways

• The DOJ activated the Alien Terrorist Removal Court for the first time in its 30-year existence.
• An Afghan family in Texas allegedly coordinated an ISIS-inspired Election Day massacre.
• Congress built this powerful legal tool in 1996, but no prior administration ever deployed it.
• One landmark case is a welcome start — the DOJ must make this court standard practice.

Sources: The Post Millennial