“He Is Not a Criminal” – Albanian Barber Deported from America After Over 20 Years in the US. His Uncle’s Message: He Was a Victim of Criminals, It Wasn’t His Fault the Visa…

For nearly two decades, Besnik “Nik” Shembitrasi built his life in the United States.

He worked as a barber in the Chicago area, married a US citizen, started a family and raised a daughter. But in May 2026, he was arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) near his home in Illinois and later deported to Albania, bringing his 20-year life in the US to an end.

His case has sparked reactions in the Albanian and American community. His uncle, Frank Shemitraku, owner of several barbershops in Illinois, said that Nik had been deceived when he sought to emigrate to the US. “They promise: ‘I’ll get you a visa.’ There were many guys like that. But the visa was fake. It wasn’t his fault. He paid the money to come to the US,” his uncle said. According to him, many Albanians in the years after the fall of communism fell prey to people promising valid immigration documents. “He worked hard and paid them the money. He became a victim of criminals,” he added. On the other hand, ICE stated that Shembitrasi had entered the US in 2005 with a forged Italian passport and that in 2008 he had received a final deportation order, which he did not comply with. The agency labeled him a “criminal illegal alien.” The story gained even more attention after American writer Bill Ward published an essay dedicated to the Albanian barber, who had cut his hair for seven years. He described Nik as a hardworking man devoted to his family, acknowledging that he had violated immigration law, but stressing that there is a distinction between what is legal and what is right. The essay ends with the words: “This is not, in any meaningful way, a ‘criminal.’ This is Nik the Barber. Albanian by birth, American in spirit.”