Justice Department activated the 30-year-dormant Alien Terrorist Removal Court for the first time

On July 15, 2026, the Justice Department filed a single-page application with the Alien Terrorist Removal Court — a specialized deportation tribunal Congress created in 1996 as part of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act but that had never received a removal application or conducted any proceedings in the 30 years since its creation. The court is staffed by five federal district court judges also serving on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. All details of the case, including the identity of the respondent and the specific allegations, are under seal.

The ATRC is structured to allow the government to seek deportation of individuals it designates as alien terrorists through a mechanism that keeps classified evidence secret from the respondent — a departure from standard immigration court proceedings where the government must provide the respondent with the factual basis for removal. The presiding judge, Joan N. Ericksen, reviewed the application and issued an order stating the court had "questions about the nexus that the government alleges" between the respondent's actions and the relevant statutory provisions, and asked the government to provide additional factual and legal analysis by July 22, 2026.

Legal scholars noted that the ATRC was designed for rare, high-stakes national security cases where normal immigration removal proceedings would expose classified intelligence. Aram Gavoor, associate dean at George Washington University Law School, observed that succeeding in an ATRC proceeding is "20 to 30 times harder" than bringing the same case before a standard immigration judge, because the court's evidentiary requirements are more demanding and the legal structure is untested. The government's decision to activate the dormant tribunal — rather than using standard removal proceedings with a classified evidence supplement — established a precedent for secret deportation proceedings and signaled a willingness to use extraordinary legal mechanisms to conduct immigration enforcement outside the normal court system.

Updates

2026-07-30 — Court held its first-ever hearing, naming respondent as an Afghan mother [3, 4]

The Alien Terrorist Removal Court held its first hearing on July 30, 2026, revealing the case's previously sealed respondent as Nazira Haji Zada, a lawful permanent resident living in Fort Worth, Texas, whose son was convicted of an ISIS-aligned plot targeting the 2024 election. Under questioning from Senior U.S. District Judge Joan Ericksen, prosecutors said the FBI had developed information that Zada supported the Islamic State and worked with her son-in-law to radicalize other family members; her attorneys noted she has no criminal history. The hearing tested the government's untested legal theory before the 30-year-dormant court, with proceedings continuing.