Albanian immigrant denied asylum back in custody

Aug. 12, 2009, 12:06PM

DALLAS — U.S. immigration authorities are holding an Albanian asylum seeker they had previously tried to sedate and deport.

Lufkin restaurateur Rrustem Neza was taken into custody Friday at work. His attorney, John Wheat Gibson, says Neza is being held in Louisiana pending deportation.

ICE petitioned a federal court in late 2007 for permission to medicate Neza. That was after agents couldn't deport him because he was terrified and wouldn't calm down at the airport.

Neza's deportation was postponed when the U.S. House subcommittee on immigration began examining his case as part of a private bill. U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, a conservative Republican from Tyler, introduced the bill seeking to give Neza lawful permanent resident status.

But the bill and Neza's appeals in his asylum case both failed.



http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6569917.html