Legal Experts Warn Trump Administration's Activation of Dormant Alien Terrorist Removal Court Could Enable Secret Deportations
Key Takeaways
- •The Alien Terrorist Removal Court was established under 1990s legislation following the 1993 World Trade Center bombing but had remained unused for approximately three decades until its activation this month.
- •Unlike standard immigration proceedings, the court permits the government to use classified evidence that the accused and their legal counsel are not permitted to see or challenge.
- •The DOJ's inaugural case under the court targets a Texas mother who has not been criminally charged, based on her son and son-in-law's convictions for conspiring to commit an ISIS-inspired attack.
- •Legal experts attribute the court's activation to senior Trump advisor Stephen Miller, who is known for shaping the administration's restrictive immigration policies.
Legal experts are raising alarms over the Trump administration's sudden activation of the Alien Terrorist Removal Court, a secretive judicial body that had remained dormant for approximately 30 years since its creation under the Immigration and Nationality Act. The provision was part of a broader wave of 1990s legislation aimed at addressing terrorism concerns following the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, yet the court was never used in the decades after its establishment.
During a recent podcast episode, former FBI counterterrorism agent Frank Figliuzzi and lawyer and former FBI special agent Asha Rangappa detailed how President Donald Trump's administration could use the court, which was activated earlier this month for the first time since its creation.
According to Rangappa, the court allows the administration to deport noncitizens from the United States if it can convince a single judge that the defendant is a foreign terrorist. A defendant facing immediate removal would never see the evidence against them, as an attorney general would be able to argue that a person is a terrorist using classified evidence that remains hidden from the accused and their counsel. This stands in contrast to standard immigration court proceedings, where noncitizens facing deportation generally have the right to examine the government's evidence and present a defense.
"This administration plays pretty fast and loose with who is considered a terrorist," Rangappa said. "It's also possible that it is some rando that was rounded up at Home Depot."
Figliuzzi said that the "darkest possibility" would be, "We've got a left-wing accused terrorist, maybe from overseas, that is now before this court."
The court held its first case earlier this week. The Department of Justice is seeking to deport a Texas mother through the court because her son and son-in-law were convicted of conspiring to launch an ISIS-inspired terrorist attack, according to reporting by NBC News. NBC News noted that the mother has not been charged with a crime.
The two experts pointed to Stephen Miller, a senior Trump administration official known for shaping the president's hardline immigration policies, as the likely figure who pitched activating the court. Rangappa described it as "a Stephen Miller special."
Figliuzzi said he sees elements of the Trump administration's "inherent laziness" and "flexing of power," adding, "Somebody tells them, 'Hey, you got this court that's never been used,' and they go, shoot, let's try it."