WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration’s activation of a long-dormant court to seek an Afghan woman’s deportation violates her constitutional rights, a defense lawyer argued Thursday at a hearing for the first case to be heard in the obscure court since its creation 30 years ago.The woman’s attorney, Matthew Farley, urged the chief judge of the Alien Terrorist Removal Court to dismiss the case against Nazira Haji Zada and immediately release his client, who the government alleges is an Islamic State supporter. Judge Joan Ericksen denied Farley’s requests but said Zada’s lawyers can renew them as the case proceeds in the nation’s capital.“This entire scheme is in violation of due process and unconstitutional,” said Farley, an assistant federal public defender. The case against Zada opens a new, untested front for President Donald Trump’s aggressive deportation campaign, which has flooded the nation’s federal court system with immigration proceedings, sometimes based on novel or shaky legal foundations.
The court, established in 1996, had never received a petition until this month, when the Justice Department filed an application seeking Zada’s removal. The court has a specific authority to conduct deportation proceedings for individuals whom the Department of Justice classifies as “alien terrorists.”FBI agents arrested her Tuesday at her Fort Worth, Texas, home. She is not charged with any crimes.
