Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section Press Releases, Speeches and Testimony for 2003

Thursday, November 25, 2003

Press Release

Immigration Judge Orders Deportation Of Detroit-Area Nazi Collaborator Found Hiding Under Staircase (OSI)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced today that an immigration judge in Detroit, Michigan, has ordered the deportation of Johann Leprich, 77, a Clinton Township, Michigan man who served as an armed guard at a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. (Read more)

Wednesday, November 19, 2003

Press Release

Removal Proceedings Initiated Against New York City Man For Role In Wartime Nazi Persecution Of Jews (OSI)

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) initiated proceedings to deport a Queens, New York, man based on his participation in the persecution of Jewish civilians during World War II while serving as an armed guard at a Nazi forced labor camp in German-occupied Poland. (Read more)

Thursday, October 9, 2003

Press Release

Court Upholds Deportation Of Florida Man For Role In Nazi Crimes Against Jews In Wartime Lithuania (OSI)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Christopher A. Wray, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Criminal Division, announced that the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) has affirmed an order directing the deportation of a Gulfport, Florida, man to Lithuania for participating in the persecution of Jews in Nazi-occupied Vilnius, Lithuania during World War II. (Read more)

Tuesday, September 30, 2003

Press Release

Justice Department Moves To Revoke U.S. Citizenship Of Former Nazi Concentration Camp Guard (OSI)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Christopher A. Wray, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Criminal Division, today announced that the Justice Department has asked a federal court in Milwaukee to revoke the U.S. citizenship of a Racine, Wisconsin resident for participating in acts of persecution against civilians, including a notorious massacre of some 7,000 Jewish prisoners in Nazi-occupied Poland. (Read more)

Wednesday, September 10, 2003

Press Release

Justice Department Moves To Revoke U.S. Citizenship Of Chicago Area Man Who Served As Nazi Concentration Camp Guard (OSI)

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Christopher A. Wray, Acting Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Criminal Division, today announced that the Justice Department has asked a federal court in Chicago to revoke the U.S. citizenship of a Bensenville, Illinois resident on the basis of his service during World War II in the Waffen SS as an armed guard at a Nazi concentration camp in Germany. (Read more)

Thursday, September 4, 2003

Press Release

Former Member Of Nazi Mobile Killing Squad Returned To Lithuania (OSI)

WASHINGTON D.C. -- Christopher A. Wray, Acting Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice, today announced that a former member of a Nazi mobile killing squad has departed the United States and returned to his native Lithuania. (Read more)

Thursday, August 28, 2003

Press Release

Deportation Order Upheld Against Former Nazi Concentration Camp Guard (OSI)

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Christopher A. Wray, Acting Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, today announced that the U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) has upheld an immigration judge’s order directing the deportation of a St. Louis, Missouri, area man to Romania for participating in the Nazi persecution of Jews and other civilians during World War II. (Read more)

Thursday, July 31, 2003

Press Release

Federal Judge Strips New York City Man Of Citizenship For Role In Wartime Nazi Persecution Of Jews (OSI)

WASHINGTON – Christopher A. Wray, Acting Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, announced that a federal judge in Brooklyn, N.Y., today revoked the citizenship of a Queens resident on the basis of his service as an armed guard at an SS slave-labor camp in Nazi-occupied Poland and his concealment of that service when he immigrated to the United States. (Read more)

Wednesday, July 25, 2003

Press Release

Five Defendants Sentenced For Conspiracy To Commit Visa Fraud (DSS)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Acting Assistant Attorney General Christopher Wray of the Criminal Division and United States Attorney Michael Shelby of the Southern District of Texas announced today that five defendants were sentenced in the U.S. District Court in Laredo, Texas, this morning for conspiracy to commit visa fraud. (Read more)

Wednesday, July 25, 2003

Press Release

Two Sentenced on Witness Tampering and Bank Fraud Charges (DSS)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Two defendants have been sentenced by a federal judge in Anchorage, Alaska, for bank fraud conspiracy and witness tampering in an alleged murder-for-hire plot, the Justice Department announced today. (Read more)

Thursday, July 24, 2003

Press Release

Justice Department Moves To Revoke U.S. Citizenship Of Former Nazi Concentration Camp Guard In Des Moines (OSI)

WASHINGTON – Christopher A. Wray, Acting Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Criminal Division, today announced that the Justice Department has asked a federal court in Des Moines, Iowa, to revoke the U.S. citizenship of a Des Moines resident on the basis of his alleged participation in acts of persecution against civilians while serving as an armed SS guard at a Nazi concentration camp in Germany, during World War II. (Read more)

Wednesday, July 02, 2003

Press Release

Government Arrests, Moves To Deport Detroit-Area Nazi Collaborator (OSI)

WASHINGTON – Attorney General John Ashcroft, Secretary for Homeland Security Tom Ridge, Acting Assistant Attorney General Christopher Wray of the Criminal Division, and U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Collins of the Eastern District of Michigan today announced the arrest of World War II Nazi concentration camp guard Johann Leprich in Clinton Township, Mich. Agents from the DHS Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), with assistance from local police officers of Clinton Township and Macomb County, Mich., apprehended Leprich, 77, late last night at his former home on immigration-related charges. (Read more)

May 14, 2003

Press Release

Albanian Man Pleads Guilty In Alien Smuggling Conspiracy (DSS)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff of the Criminal Division and United States Attorney Johnny Sutton announced today that Rustem Muho, also known as Galli Franco, pleaded guilty in federal District Court in Del Rio, Texas, to a charge of conspiracy to smuggle aliens into the United States. (Read more)

Friday, April 18, 2003

Press Release

Federal Immigration Judge Orders Deportation of Pennsylvania Man who Served as Nazi Camp Guard (OSI)

WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice announced today that a federal immigration court in Philadelphia has ordered the deportation of a West Chester, Pa., man to Ukraine (or, alternatively, Poland or Germany) because he participated in the persecution of civilians during World War II while serving as an armed guard at two Nazi concentration camps in Germany and one in Nazi-occupied Poland. (Read more)

April 11, 2003

Press Release

Mexican National Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Visa Fraud In Nuevo Laredo Consulate Case (DSS)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff of the Criminal Division and United States Attorney Michael Shelby of the Southern District of Texas announced today that a former seller of U.S. visas in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit visa fraud. (Read more)

April 11, 2003

Press Release

Three Indianapolis Residents Indicted on Weapons Charges In Straw Purchase Conspiracy (DSS)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff of the Criminal Division announced today a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Indiana has indicted three Indianapolis residents on weapons charges as part of a conspiracy to purchase firearms for prohibited persons. (Read more)

March 26, 2003

Press Release

Mexican National Arrested In United States On Charges Of Conspiracy To Commit Visa Fraud (DSS)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff of the Criminal Division and United States Attorney Michael Shelby of the Southern District of Texas announced today that a former seller of U.S. visas in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, was arrested Wednesday in Laredo, Texas, on charges of conspiring with former U.S. Consulate employees to commit visa fraud. (Read more)

March 20, 2003

Press Release

Former U.S. Consulate Employees Plead Guilty To Conspiracy To Commit Visa Fraud (DSS)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff of the Criminal Division and United States Attorney Michael Shelby of the Southern District of Texas announced today that four former employees at the U.S. Consulate in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit visa fraud. (Read more)

February 5, 2003

Press Release

Consular Employee In Nuevo Laredo, Mexico Charged With Conspiracy To Commit Visa Fraud (DSS)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff of the Criminal Division and United States Attorney Michael Shelby of the Southern District of Texas announced today that a criminal complaint was filed at federal court in Laredo, Texas this morning charging Miguel Partida, a GS Visa Adjudicator, with conspiracy to commit visa fraud while working at the U.S. Consulate in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. (Read more)

January 31, 2003

Press Release

Three Employees Of U.S. Consulate In Mexico Arrested And Charged With Visa Fraud (DSS)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff of the Criminal Division and United States Attorney Michael Shelby of the Southern District of Texas announced today that three separate criminal complaints were filed with the federal court in Laredo, Texas late last evening charging three employees of the United States Consulate in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, with conspiracy to commit visa fraud. (Read more)

Tuesday, January 21, 2003

Press Release

U.S. Justice Department Signs Memorandum on Cooperation With Prosecutor's Office Of Republic of Belarus In Investigation of World War Ii-Era Nazi Cases (OSI)

WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice announced the signing of a Memorandum on Cooperation yesterday between the Department and the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Belarus in the investigation of World War II-era Nazi cases. (Read more)

January 10, 2003

Press Release

Assistant Attorney General Chertoff Announces New Leadership In The Justice Department's Criminal Division (DSS)

WASHINGTON, D.C.– Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff today announced the appointment of a new chief of staff for the Criminal Division and several other changes in the management of the division. The changes follow a recent reorganization and realignment of some of the Division's programs and resources in response to the Attorney General's directive to make the fight against terrorism the Department's overriding priority. (Read more)

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