Fair Shake Or an Offer They can't Refuse? the Protection of Cooperating Alien Witnesses Under United States Law‪.‬

I. INTRODUCTION Nazmi Rranci paid a smuggling operation to bring him into the United States from Albania and was detained shortly after crossing the U.S. border. (1) He then served the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) as a material witness in a criminal case against his smuggler, an alleged chieftain of Albanian organized crime. (2) Rranci's testimony led to a successful conviction for the DOJ and, for Rranci, the fear of violent retribution upon any future return to Albania. (3) Following completion of the Government's case, Rranci expected reasonable protection from his former associates, protection allegedly promised to him and which formed the basis of his decision to testify. (4) Instead, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) immediately initiated removal proceedings against Rranci, as if his cooperation with the DOJ and status as a government witness were matters of pure fiction. (5)