Palij’s Visa Photo from 1949 (Courtesy of U.S. Justice Department)
Aug. 21, 2018 By Tara Law
A 95-year-old Jackson Heights resident who was a former Nazi SS labor camp guard was deported to Germany early this morning, the White House announced.
Jakiw Palij, who was born in an area of Poland that is now Ukraine, moved to the United States in 1949 and became a United States citizen in 1957. He lied to immigration officials during the naturalization process, claiming that he had spent World War II working in a factory on a farm, authorities say.
He confessed to the Department of Justice in 2001 that he had been trained in 1943 at the Nazi SS training camp in German-occupied Trawniki, Poland, and then served as an armed guard at the nearby Trawniki Labor Camp. On Nov. 3, 1943, about 6,000 Jews were killed at the camp.
Palij’s citizenship was revoked in Aug. 2003 on the basis of his wartime activities and immigration fraud, and his deportation was ordered in 2004.
However, previous administrations struggled to deport Palij because Germany, Ukraine and Poland refused to take him in.
The White House said that President Donald Trump’s administration had prioritized deporting Palij.
“Palij had lied about being a Nazi and remained in the United States for decades,” the administration said in a statement. “Palij’s removal sends a strong message: The United States will not tolerate those who facilitated Nazi crimes and other human rights violations, and they will not find a safe haven on American soil.”
Palij was the only remaining active case from the Nazi era that was still being pursued by the Justice Department’s Office of Human Rights and Special Prosecutions. In its history of investigating World War II war crimes, the department has deported a total of 68 Nazis.
Over the years, New York politicians including U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer have written letters to the White House calling for Palij’s deportation.
Featured Events
36 Comments
These are the people that America needs to get rid of.
Along with those White supremacist in Charlottesville with the Unite the Right rally .
America does not need Nazi or anyone with the same thinking
The thumb downs must be nazi sympathizers
Add ANTIFA, BLM, the black panthers, MS13, Latin kings, bloods/crips, and every other far fringe and hateful organization and I’m with you.
Thank you ICE! No Nazis, no illegals
Preach brother!
Ohbahma liked nazis never made a fuss about him in 8 years.
Bush and Obama knew about this Nazi from day one and did nothing. Trump deported him without hesitation!!!!
I remember the neo-nazi Trump rally in Charlottesville where a woman was murdered,
I don’t remember any neo-nazi rallies for Obama though. Whataboutism = failed.
But that still doesn’t change the fact that Obama knew about this Nazi for 8 years and did nothing. Obama also separated families at the border but obviously facts don’t matter to you.
“Nazis Deport a Nazi to Make Themselves Look Like the Good Guys.”
One less Trump supporter
So much for the theory that all Conservatives are Nazis!
Trump is the one that personally pushed to have deported.
That’s completely false. He was removed because the bipartisan (14 Democrats and 7 Republicans) members of New York’s Congressional delegation had written a letter to the Secretary of State urging he be deported. A court ordered his court his deportation in 2004.
Trump had nothing to do with it.
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/NY-Politicians-Deport-Nazi-Guard-Jakiw-Palij-Living-in-Queens-441662873.html
Many similar letters were sent to Obama’s Secretary of State and nothing happened. The only thing that changed this time is that Trump pressured Germany’s Merkel to accept the Nazi any that finally got him deported. FACTS!
give the people he murder a little of peace, by leaving him naked in the middle of Russia’s winter..
I don’t believe that any area of Poland in recent history was part of Ukraine. Perhaps hundreds of years ago there was a Polish empire of sorts in Europe, but the article’s description is inaccurate as it stands.
In addition, while the article rightly mention the Jewish victims of Nazi crimes done on Polish soil, you should also added the many non-Jewish Poles who likewise died in these labor camps at the hands of the Nazi’s in Poland.
The Trump-government’s statement saying that it will not be a haven for Nazis is a joke. Witness traitor-Trump’s comments about “both sides being at fault” at the Nazi rally last year in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Trump is an inept, lying, corrupt and shameful embarassment to our country. He should also be deported.
Criminal
He should be in prison.
This is how it should be. Deport Nazis, & not Latinos.
One name in answer to this comment: Mollie Tibbetts. If one is here ILLEGALLY, one is here ILLEGALLY! Don’t care when they came, don’t care where they came from.
I agree. You come here ILLEGALLY.. leave. Do it the right way like everyone in the past did it. Came to NY through Ellis Island and worked for what they wanted. Complete different breed of people. I am a latino, and my family came here LEGALLY in the early 20th century. We worked for what we wanted and never took a handout. America is our country and we are proud AMERICANS.
Correction : the killerwas here legally .
Just so you know .
He lied on his paperwork upon entering the country which is why they revoked his residency making him illegal.
The killer was not here legally if he liked on his immigration documents. Also, what never gets publicized is that most illegal immigrant who claims that they got a social security card have gotten no that card with a fraudulent “feeder document”. So, in addition to being here illegally, the are committed by using fake documents to get a driver’s license and then a social security card
Her killer was here LEGALLY.
Mollie Tibbetts death has nothing to do with the article.
GOOD! this is great news for gentrification too many nazis around here!
Marone!
Whoa! I did not see that coming!
He’s 95 years old, you couldn’t just leave him alone?
How does it feel to be a Trump supporter?
Feels pretty good, actually, thanks for asking )
Feels Great! ?
Great ? ??
This is a huge day for all of us who lost family members in concentration camps! Justice delayed is justice denied. At last…..JUSTICE!!! For about 30 years he lived in comfort and peace in Jackson Hts. His bed was warm and his meals were tasty. His safety was assured. Those of us who grew up, never having met our grandparents (who were murdered by the Nazis), can finally breathe a sigh of relief. He will probably never stand trial, but at least he never breathe another breath of air in the U.S.
Some will say, “He’s an old man. Leave him alone.” But there are others still alive today, like my 93-year-0ld father, a slave laborer in a Romanian Nazi camp, who would say there is no statute of limitation for those who inflicted inhumane torture and suffering on others.