The U.S. government has filed its first ever application with the Alien Terrorist Removal Court, a specialized judicial body created in 1996 that had never before been used. The sealed application seeks the removal of an unnamed individual and represents a major expansion of the Trump administration's immigration enforcement agenda.
President Donald Trump has made historic use of the Alien Terrorist Removal Court, a specialized judicial body created in 1996 that had never before received an application for removal.
According to court documents reviewed by Newsweek, the U.S. government filed its first application on July 15, seeking the removal of an unnamed individual from the United States. The filing, which remains under seal, marks a significant escalation in the Trump administration's aggressive approach to immigration enforcement, particularly amid heightened scrutiny of ICE tactics following several deaths during encounters with agents.
The court's chief judge, Joan N. Ericksen, issued an order on July 16 noting that while a hearing was held to consider the application, no sworn testimony was taken. The judge raised questions about whether the government's legal citations sufficiently connected the respondent's alleged conduct to terrorism-related statutes. After attorneys offered to supplement the record, Judge Ericksen determined that additional factual and legal analysis was needed for the government to satisfy its statutory obligations.
The government has been ordered to submit the supplemental information by July 22, 2026, unless it requests more time. The Alien Terrorist Removal Court was established by Congress under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 to handle cases involving noncitizens accused of terrorism while protecting classified intelligence. The Federal Judiciary Center confirms that in the three decades since its creation, the court had never received an application until now.
The process allows the attorney general to file sealed petitions. A single designated judge reviews the application and may grant it only if the individual is correctly identified as an alien terrorist and removal through other means would threaten national security. If approved, a public hearing is required where the accused has the right to counsel and the government must produce an unclassified summary of classified evidence.
The burden of proof rests with the government to establish that the person fits the statutory definition of an "alien terrorist.
" Appeals from a denial of an application or from a post-hearing decision go to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Newsweek has sought comment from the court, the Department of Justice, and the White House. This unprecedented use of the court reflects a shift in immigration enforcement strategy, leveraging a rarely invoked legal mechanism to address terrorism-related removal cases at a time of intensified debate over due process and civil liberties in immigration proceedings
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