DALLAS, U.S., Sep. 10 – An Albanian restaurant owner who publicly identified the men accused of gunning down a Democratic leader in Albania is fighting to stay in the United States for fear he will be killed if deported.
Rrustem Neza, 32, is being detained at the Rolling Plains facility in Haskell, about 210 miles west of Dallas, after immigration authorities denied his bid for asylum. His attorney asked the Board of Immigration Appeals on Monday to stop the deportation of Neza, his wife and one of his sons until a motion to reopen his case can be considered.
When immigration authorities tried to deport Neza late last month, airlines officials refused to let him fly because he was terrified and did not calm down, Neza’s attorney and family said.
“If he is going there, he will be executed,” said Neza’s brother, Xhemal Neza, 34.
Rrustem Neza’s imminent deportation has been reported by the media in Albania, where political groups continue clashing after decades of communist rule ended. His family believes the Albanian government will file charges against him for fleeing rather than testifying about the 1998 assassination of Azem Hajdari, who organized a student movement against the Communist Party.
Rrustem Neza fled Albania after telling a crowd in the Albanian city of Tropoje the names of the men who allegedly were seen killing Hajdari and his bodyguards. Xhemal Neza said he had witnessed the ambush and told him and his two cousins he recognized the gunmen from the town where they grew up.
Police pursued the Neza brothers and their cousins while they tried to flee. The cousins were fatally shot before the family could flee, Neza’s family said.
Eventually, Rrustem Neza made it to Belgium and then the U.S., where his wife Nurie gave birth to their 6-year-old son. An older son, 10, was born in Albania. The family settled in the East Texas town of Lufkin, where Rrustem and Xhemal Neza own a restaurant.
Neza’s two brothers came to the U.S. later and were granted asylum. However, Rrustem Neza was detained in February. His wife and older son are not being held.
John Wheat Gibson, Rrustem Neza’s attorney in Dallas, said his client did not initially tell immigration authorities about identifying the suspects in the assassination and other details because his brothers had not reached the U.S. As a result, Gibson said, it was not clear why he would be a target in Albania.
A judge found Neza has no right to remain in the U.S. and the Board of Immigration Appeals has previously agreed.
