Edmond Demiraj thought he had a deal.  The government came to him and asked him to testify against a notorious Albanian mobster.  In return, the government promised to protect Demiraj and his family. Not a great deal, but a deal.

Via Liptak in his Sidebar column :

The two sides made a deal, Mr. Demiraj said. In exchange for his testimony, he and his family would be kept safe.

But [Bill] Bedini was allowed to post bail and promptly fled to Albania. With their witness no longer of value to them, federal authorities deported Mr. Demiraj, also to Albania.

Mr. Bedini was waiting. He kidnapped, beat and shot Mr. Demiraj, the bullet just missing his kidneys.

Mr. Bedini also went after members of Mr. Demiraj’s family, kidnapping two of his nieces and forcing them into prostitution in Italy. “This was payback to your Uncle Edmond for when I was in the United States,” he said as he beat the women, who were 19 and 21.

While Demiraj was ready, willing and able to hold up his end of the deal, the government was another story.  Clearly, it was Demiraj’s fault that Bedini absconded.  He put his butt on the line in reliance on the government’s assurances that they would allow, Demiraj, here without the proper documentation, to stay in the land of plenty and be protected from retribution. 

But that was when they needed him.  When the deal is no longer a good one for the government, then there’s no longer a deal.  He was able to return to the United States lawfully, and is now fighting to prevent the deportation of his wife and son.

Mr. Demiraj and his nieces are now lawfully in the United States. He owns a small painting company near Houston. But the decision in January also brought bad news for Mr. Demiraj. It ordered the deportation of his wife, Rodina, and teenage son, Rediol, who have both lived in the United States since they entered the country unlawfully in 2000. (The two youngest Demiraj children were born in the United States.)

The idea that members of his family will be forced to return to Albania terrifies Mr. Demiraj.

“Bill Bedini is a dangerous person,” Mr. Demiraj said on the phone the other day, in halting English. “For sure he’s going to kill my son. My wife, maybe he’s going to kill her and maybe he’s going to send her to prostitution.”

The government does not really dispute any of this.

And, wait for it, this doesn’t end the problem.  In fact, the Fifth Circuit gave the Demiraj situation its deepest consideration, before  affirming the order denying asylum and that his wife and son be deported.

In a divided decision, a three-judge panel of the federal appeals court in New Orleans agreed. It is true, they said, that a federal law says asylum may be granted when an alien fears persecution “on account of” family membership.

But the judges in the majority added that Mr. Demiraj’s wife and teenage son did not qualify. Their reasoning takes a minute to grasp.

“Mrs. Demiraj is at risk because Bedini seeks to hurt Mr. Demiraj by hurting her — not because he has a generalized desire to hurt the Demiraj family as such,” Judge Catharina Haynes wrote. “Mrs. Demiraj would not be any safer in Albania if she divorced Mr. Demiraj and renounced membership in the family, nor would she be any safer if she were Mr. Demiraj’s girlfriend of many years rather than his wife.”

It takes a bit of thought to appreciate the rationale.  Because the harm that would most certainly befall Mrs. Demiraj should she be returned to Albania would happen regardless as payback for Demiraj being a government witness against Bedini, it’s not the sort of harm that would be covered by a request for asylum.  Sure, no one doubts that Bedini will go after her, perhaps kill Demiraj’s wife and son, maybe just torture them, but that’s because Demiraj agreed to help the government.  We can’t just give asylum to anybody, you know.

But let’s not forget how this “lurid” situation arose, because a guy made a deal with our government.  What would it have cost the government to honor it’s bargain, to allow Demiraj and his family to remain here and be safe?  It’s not like he would be the only person to have remained in the United States whose basis was a bit sketchy, and we’ve got enough room here that he wouldn’t be stealing air from good Americans.

And yet, nobody seems terribly concerned that the situation that put a bullet in Demiraj’s gut was created by a request from our very own government, and his silly Albanian naivete that the United States of America would honor its obligations, especially when lives were very much at stake.

There are prosecutors who keep their word.  There are courts that hold the government to its deals, even when prosecutors decide that they don’t have to keep their word.  But when they don’t, be ready for that bullet.  Or say good-bye to your wife and son, because they’re going to pay for your trusting the government.  And you can’t count on anybody, whether prosecutor or judge, to save them.