Members of New York’s Congressional delegation have written a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, urging the Trump administration to deport a former Nazi guard living in Queens.
The 21 members of the delegation say Jakiw Palij is in the U.S. illegally because he had his citizenship revoked for not disclosing his Nazi past on his application decades ago.
“We are deeply concerned that the deportation of Mr. Palij is stalled and urge your personal intervention on the matter,” the letter to Tillerson reads.
The bipartisan group, made up of 14 Democrats and seven Republicans, says there is abundant evidence that Palij served as a guard in the Trawniki camp in Poland, where he contributed to the slaughter of thousands of Jewish people.
His citizenship was eventually revoked in the 2000s after the Department of Justice looked into his past. He has remained in the U.S. on a technicality — no other country wants him.
“Mr. Palij continues to reside in New York where his presence is not only unmerited but a painful reminder of Americans who fought against the Nazis or lost loved ones in the Holocaust,” the letter reads.
The group says it appears no other country will accept Palij without the involvement of the Trump administration.
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Palij has said he was forced to be a Nazi guard, and earlier this year his neighbors in Jackson Heights told the New York Post he’s a “feeble old man.”
