USA

Former CIA and FBI Informant Detained by ICE, Faces Deportation to Kosovo

21 August 2026 19:08 PM

NEWS DESK

Despite spending nearly a decade working with US intelligence and law enforcement agencies, Belerim Skoro, a Kosovo-born former informant for the CIA, FBI and US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), has been detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and is facing deportation to Kosovo.

The 55-year-old Skoro is being held at the Elizabeth Detention Center in New Jersey pending his removal to his birthplace.

ICE arrested Skoro on August 3 when he went to an immigration office in New Jersey to renew his documents. His wife, Susan, was with him at the time.

She said ICE officers moved in and arrested him shortly after he checked in at the front desk.

“They betrayed him,” Susan said, arguing that Skoro had paid a heavy personal price for his work with US authorities and deserved protection.

She also expressed concern that Skoro would not be safe if deported to Kosovo. His attorneys have filed a petition in federal court seeking to block his removal, arguing that his past work for US intelligence and law enforcement agencies could put his life at risk in Kosovo.

Skoro fled the Kosovo war and arrived in the United States in 1994, where he sought political asylum.

According to his account, financial hardship eventually led him into drug trafficking. He was arrested in 2000 on a heroin trafficking charge, after which he began cooperating with US intelligence and law enforcement agencies.

While serving his sentence at a federal prison in Pennsylvania, Skoro said he came into contact with Islamist extremists. FBI records identified him as a confidential informant.

Following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the CIA saw an opportunity to make use of his contacts and knowledge.

Between 2002 and 2006, while incarcerated at the FCI Allenwood prison, Skoro provided the FBI with information about suspected terrorists. His sources reportedly included members of the Lackawanna Six, a jihadist network in Virginia, and individuals linked to Hezbollah.

Highly sensitive FBI documents obtained by CBS News from 2004 reportedly confirm that Skoro served as an informant in an investigation connected to Osama bin Laden. The documents described some of the information he provided as useful and reliable.

Missions Overseas

Skoro continued working with US authorities after his release from prison.

After being deported to Kosovo in 2007, the CIA allegedly asked him to infiltrate al-Qaeda networks in the Balkans. According to a previous legal declaration, he traveled undercover for years to countries including Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Pakistan and Egypt.

Skoro has said his missions continued until 2009.

His attorneys say he worked with the CIA, FBI and DEA for nearly a decade, describing his service as “dedicated and heroic work” as an agent for US law enforcement.

Former attorney Joshua Dratel told CBS News that Skoro had endured dangerous experiences while working for the United States and had subsequently spent roughly a decade living legally and productively with his family.

A father of three, Skoro later worked as a taxi driver on Staten Island.

Previous Deportation Protection

Skoro returned to the United States in 2014 after his cover was exposed. He said he was shot in the leg in an assassination attempt in Kosovo. He later re-entered the United States through Canada.

In 2016, the New York Police Department arrested him for using his daughter's discounted public transportation card, after which ICE took him into custody.

In November 2022, a federal judge ruled that Skoro could not be deported to Kosovo under the international Convention Against Torture because he faced a risk of torture or death there.

However, the ruling did not grant him permanent legal residency in the United States.

Following his latest arrest, Skoro's attorneys Renee Kathawala and Amy Greer argued that the 2022 protection prevents ICE from deporting him directly without prior authorization from a judge.

They filed a habeas corpus petition in federal court on August 4, one day after his latest arrest.

From the Elizabeth Detention Center, Skoro told CBS News that he never expected the United States to treat him this way.

“I never thought they would betray me like this,” he said, adding that if he were to die, he wanted to remain in the United States so that his children could bury him there.

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