Nicolai Haugsted
Blerim Skoro faces deportation to third country after ICE arrest at routine check-in.
Operatives operating in the shadows rarely expect a warm welcome home, but former CIA informant Blerim Skoro never anticipated handcuffs during a routine administrative check-in.
Following nearly a decade spent infiltrating high-level terrorist cells across the Middle East and South Asia, the 55-year-old Kosovar refugee currently faces deportation after being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in New Jersey.
Detention occurred at an ICE facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where Skoro had arrived simply to renew his work authorization permit.
Undercover operations inside radical networks
Recruited by American intelligence agencies while serving a prison sentence for drug trafficking shortly after September 11, 2001, Skoro leveraged his background to gain access to restricted militant quarters. Operations placed him inside al-Qaeda training camps in Pakistan during the search for Osama bin Laden, as well as undercover assignments tracking ISIS networks across Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and the Balkans.
Intelligence provided by Skoro directly disrupted major militant logistics. Trusted by senior al-Qaeda commanders to procure heavy weaponry—including anti-aircraft missiles and rocket launchers—he alerted handlers in time for federal agents to intercept the shipment.
Actionable data gathered during his assignments further assisted in disrupting a potential plot involving radioactive material in the Balkans, alongside early tracking of operatives linked to the Millennium plot against Los Angeles International Airport.
Broken promises and legal battles
Injury ended Skoro’s active intelligence work in 2010 when he sustained gunshot wounds during an ambush near a CIA safehouse in Macedonia. Rather than receiving promised citizenship or medical evacuation to the United States, Skoro alleges handlers handed him cash in an envelope and instructed him to return to Kosovo.
Fearing retaliation from former target networks, Skoro eventually traveled to Canada before crossing into the U.S. illegally in 2015 to rejoin his family.
“I worked for the CIA, and I did all these things for this nation, and now I’m here,” Blerim Skoro told The Times from the ICE detention center in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
“I went to the office to get my appointment, I gave them my work permit and my driver’s license, and suddenly they handcuffed me. It makes no sense.”
Legal protection was granted in 2022 under the UN Convention Against Torture, acknowledging the extreme physical danger Skoro would face if returned to Kosovo. The ruling prevents direct deportation to his home country, though federal authorities retain the option to transfer him to an approved third country.
Reflecting on his current confinement, Skoro expressed deep frustration over how intelligence assets are treated once their operational utility ends.
“I have a very strong character, I’ve been in wars, I’ve had military training, but this time I feel like I’ve been hit with a hammer. If they think I’ll keep quiet, they’re wrong. I can’t accept this happening to me. What message does it send to people considering working with the CIA? It shows they won’t be protected, they won’t be taken care of, and they won’t get a safe haven. I have been betrayed,” Skoro said.
