Thread: An Immigrant needs our support to stay alive

10/09/07 - Lufkin
East Texas Business Owner Faces Deportation
by Tashun Chism

The co-owner of Joe's Italian Grill and Restaurant is facing deportation back to his his native country of Albania. His attorney, John Wheat Gibson, says he is literally fighting for his life.

"He has a lot of things to say that could be embarrassing to some people who have held position in the Albanian government and the Albanian police. That's why they want to kill him," Gibson told us over the phone from Dallas.

Rrustem Neza fled Albania after identifying men accused of murdering a government official. He came to the US seeking asylum. US immigration officials tried to deport Neza last august. He was so scared they couldn't calm him down to get him on the plane.

"He was terrified. He'd rather be over here in jail alive for another 10 months than in Albania dead forever," Gibson said.

Officials are now seeking court permission to sedate Neza in order to deport him. But neza's lawyer says they're not giving up on his fight for political asylum.

"All we want is real simple. We want one opportunity in the world to present the facts on which his asylum case is based to a competent judge. He has never yet been given the chance."

http://www.ktre.com/Global/story.asp?S=7191041

more information (and you can leave comments there) is at
http://www.lufkindailynews.com/news/con ... ation.html

This is horribly sad and unfair. Here is one courageous asylum seeker who risked his own life to bring to justice someone who murdered a US government worker, and our immigration people are anxious to send him back to certain death? Shouldn't he be considered a hero?

Meanwhile we coddle and kowtow to millions of illegals whose lives are in no way at risk. Evidently we just want to get rid of legitimate asylum seekers who've helped our country at great cost (his cousins were killed for this and he if he goes back he will be too) and gambled everything to do the right thing.

We really need to sort out the worthy from the unworthy.

Joe's Italian Bar and Grill phone is 936-632-0167
address is 2011 S 1st St Lufkin, TX 75901

Does anyone know how to reach his reps or someone in the govt. who can help this man?

Assuming this is true, he just needs the same judge who gave political assylum to the Chinese that falsely claim to be Falun Gong members.

HERE IS THE WHOLE ARTICLE FROM THE ABOVE LINK:


Detained Albanian fears being killed if deported to homeland

By ANABELLE GARAY
Associated Press Writer

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

DALLAS — A Lufkin restaurant owner who publicly identified the men accused of gunning down a Democratic leader in his home country of 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.

Joe's Italian Grill, which is in the section of Lufkin Mall where Chili's used to be, is owned by Xhemel Neza of Nacogdoches and Shaban Krasnigi of Sachse, Texas, according to an assumed name certificate filed at the Angelina County Courthouse last month. The restaurant has not opened in its new location yet.

Xhemal Neza on Wednesday declined comment about this story or his plans for the restaurant.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement released a statement Monday saying Rrustem Neza has exhausted his appeals to the immigration courts, so officials plan to deport him.
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 younger son, now age 6. An older son, 10, was born in Albania. The family settled in Lufkin.

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 didn't initially tell immigration authorities about identifying the suspects in the assassination and other details because his brothers hadn't reached the U.S. As a result, Gibson said, it wasn't clear why he would be a target in Albania.

Gibson also blames Neza's previous lawyer and an interpreter in Miami for the asylum bid's failure. Gibson said the attorney failed to personally interview Neza and didn't properly research the case, so key pieces of evidence supporting the bid weren't presented to an immigration judge. The interpreter included incorrect details, Gibson said.

A previous appeal to reopen the case based on the former attorney's ineffectiveness was denied, and Gibson said he worries Neza could be deported before a decision comes on a new appeal.

A judge found Neza has no right to remain in the U.S. and the Board of Immigration Appeals has previously agreed, ICE said.

"Since Mr. Neza has a final order of removal, ICE intends to remove him to his country at the earliest opportunity," the statement read.

"Mr. Neza is obligated not to impede the lawful efforts of federal officers to remove him from the United States."

Staff writer Jessica Savage

contributed to this report.

FIRST HE WENT TO BELGIUM. SO WHY DIDNT HE STAY THERE? WHY COME TO THE USA AD HAVE AN ANCHOR BABY? AND THEY GAVE ASYLUM TO HIS RELATIVES BUT NOT HIM. DUE TO THE FACT THAT HE DID NOT TELL THEM HIS "STORY" INITIALLY. SO WHY DID HE WAIT SO LONG TO TELL INS WHY HE THOUGHT HIS LIFE WAS IN DANGER? WELL I'LL TELL YOU. HE CAME HERE FROM BELGIUM NOT ALBANIA. SO HIS LIFE WAS NOT IN DANGER. HE CAME HERE AND IMMEDIATELY HAD A ANCHOR BABY TO STAY HERE. BUT THAT DID NOT WORK....SO HE CAME UP WITH A STORY. BET HIS RELATIVES LIED TOO.

Originally Posted by redpony353

FIRST HE WENT TO BELGIUM. SO WHY DIDNT HE STAY THERE? WHY COME TO THE USA AD HAVE AN ANCHOR BABY? AND THEY GAVE ASYLUM TO HIS RELATIVES BUT NOT HIM. DUE TO THE FACT THAT HE DID NOT TELL THEM HIS "STORY" INITIALLY. SO WHY DID HE WAIT SO LONG TO TELL INS WHY HE THOUGHT HIS LIFE WAS IN DANGER? WELL I'LL TELL YOU. HE CAME HERE FROM BELGIUM NOT ALBANIA. SO HIS LIFE WAS NOT IN DANGER. HE CAME HERE AND IMMEDIATELY HAD A ANCHOR BABY TO STAY HERE. BUT THAT DID NOT WORK....SO HE CAME UP WITH A STORY. BET HIS RELATIVES LIED TOO.

Seeking Asylum is a LEGAL way to enter the US. And you can only seek Asylum if you are here, or at least at a US airport.
Please don't jump to conclusions about either his motives, his veracity, or the danger this man and his family may have been in. We are not walking in his shoes, nor do we know his story. But if we claim to welcome legal immigrants let's play fair and not judge everyone as having no business being here. Or else let's just admit that NOBODY besides us is welcome in the USA.

Would YOU really like immigration to send this man back to be killed and would you feel nothing for him ? Sorry, I don't agree at all. I support legal immigration entirely, and have nothing but admiration for those legal immigrants who seek to become true Americans. On the other hand, I feel the numbers allowed to emigrate from Mexico should be cut way back to let other countries get a better deal. Even in legal immigration quotas Mexico is given the lion's share. nor do they seem grateful for it.

I, for one, hope Mr. Neza finds Americans supportive and understanding to those who play by the rules, as he did. Immigration should find better things to do than send people to their death.

redpony353 wrote:
FIRST HE WENT TO BELGIUM. SO WHY DIDNT HE STAY THERE? WHY COME TO THE USA AD HAVE AN ANCHOR BABY? AND THEY GAVE ASYLUM TO HIS RELATIVES BUT NOT HIM. DUE TO THE FACT THAT HE DID NOT TELL THEM HIS "STORY" INITIALLY. SO WHY DID HE WAIT SO LONG TO TELL INS WHY HE THOUGHT HIS LIFE WAS IN DANGER? WELL I'LL TELL YOU. HE CAME HERE FROM BELGIUM NOT ALBANIA. SO HIS LIFE WAS NOT IN DANGER. HE CAME HERE AND IMMEDIATELY HAD A ANCHOR BABY TO STAY HERE. BUT THAT DID NOT WORK....SO HE CAME UP WITH A STORY. BET HIS RELATIVES LIED TOO

.

Seeking Asylum is a LEGAL way to enter the US. And you can only seek Asylum if you are here, or at least at a US airport.
Please don't jump to conclusions about either his motives, his veracity, or the danger this man and his family may have been in. We are not walking in his shoes, nor do we know his story. But if we claim to welcome legal immigrants let's play fair and not judge everyone as having no business being here. Or else let's just admit that NOBODY besides us is welcome in the USA.

Would YOU really like immigration to send this man back to be killed and would you feel nothing for him ? Sorry, I don't agree at all. I support legal immigration entirely, and have nothing but admiration for those legal immigrants who seek to become true Americans. On the other hand, I feel the numbers allowed to emigrate from Mexico should be cut way back to let other countries get a better deal. Even in legal immigration quotas Mexico is given the lion's share. nor do they seem grateful for it.

I, for one, hope Mr. Neza finds Americans supportive and understanding to those who play by the rules, as he did. Immigration should find better things to do than send people to their death.

HE CAME TO USA FROM BELGIUM NOT FROM ALBANIA. IF YOU FEEL THIS MAN IS INNOCENT WHY DID YOU ONLY POST PART OF THE ARTICLE? YOU LEFT OUT THE PART OF THE ARTICLE THAT TELLS US THAT HE LIED TO IMMIGRATION AUTHORITIES. AFTER READING THE ENTIRE ARTICLE, I DONT BELIEVE THIS MAN. HE SHOULD BE DEPORTED. NO ONE HAS AN AUTOMATIC RIGHT TO BE HERE. ANYONE CAN SAY THEY WILL BE KILLED IF THEY ARE SENT BACK. THERE ARE OTHER COUNTRIES HE CAN ENTER IF HE FEELS HE IS IN DANGER. THEY ARE DENYING HIS CLAIM BECAUSE HE HAS NOT PROVEN HIS CLAIM. AND PART OF IT IS THAT HE LIED TO IMMIGRATION.