Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section Press Releases, Speeches and Testimony for 2007
December 20, 2007
Press Release
British National Sentenced to 15 Months in Prison for conspiracy to Commit Visa Fraud (DSS)
WASHINGTON – A U.K. citizen residing in St. Cloud, Fla., has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for conspiracy to commit visa fraud, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Robert E. O'Neill for the Middle District of Florida announced today. (Read more)
December 7, 2007
Press Release
Three Colombians Plead Guilty to Conspiring to Support the FARC and Alien Smuggling Charges (DSS)
WASHINGTON – Three Colombian nationals have pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to provide material support to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, a designated foreign terrorist organization, and alien smuggling, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division announced today. (Read more)
December 5, 2007
Press Release
Two Foreign Nationals Arrested for Smuggling East Africans to the United States (DSS)
WASHINGTON – Two foreign nationals have been arrested on charges of conspiracy and alien smuggling in connection with their roles in smuggling East Africans to the United States, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor for the District of Columbia, and Assistant Secretary Julie L. Myers of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced today. (Read more)
December 4, 2007
Press Release
Florida Man Convicted of Visa Fraud and Alien Smuggling Conspiracy Charges (DSS)
WASHINGTON – A Florida man has been convicted on seven counts of visa fraud and alien smuggling for his role in bringing aliens to work at major hotels and resorts in the Destin, Fla., area, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Gregory R. Miller of the Northern District of Florida announced today. (Read more)
Monday, November 19, 2007
Press Release
Michigan Woman Sentenced for Her Role in Smuggling Scores of Iraqis and Jordanians into the United States (DSS)
WASHINGTON – Neeran H. Zaia, 56, of Sterling Heights, Mich., was sentenced to 15 years in prison for her role in a conspiracy to smuggle Iraqis and Jordanians into the United States and for bringing and attempting to bring Iraqis and Jordanians to the United States for the purpose of private financial gain, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor of the District of Columbia announced. (Read more)
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Press Release
Chicago Man Who Served as Former Nazi Police Officer Ordered Removed (OSI)
WASHINGTON – An immigration judge in Chicago has ordered Chicago resident Osyp Firishchak removed from the United States for his role in a Ukrainian police unit that assisted in the annihilation of over 100,000 Jews in Nazi-occupied L’viv, Poland (now in Ukraine), during World War II, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division announced today. (Read more)
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Testimony
Statement of Sigal P. Mandelker, DAAG, Criminal Division, Before the Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law Committee on the Judiciary United States Senate Concerning "No Safe Haven: Accountability for Human Rights Violators in the United States" (DSS)
Chairman Durbin, Ranking Member Coburn, and distinguished Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for inviting the Department of Justice to testify at this hearing. (Read more)
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Press Release
Palestinian National and Former Colombian Detective Plead Guilty to Conspiring to Support the FARC and Alien Smuggling (DSS)
WASHINGTON – A Palestinian national and a former detective with the Colombian Department of Administrative Security (DAS) have pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and alien smuggling, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and Assistant Attorney General Kenneth L. Wainstein of the National Security Division announced today. (Read more)
October 29, 2007
Press Release
Two Colombian Men Plead Guilty to Alien Smuggling and Conspiring to Support the FARC (DSS)
WASHINGTON – Two defendants have pleaded guilty to charges of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and alien smuggling, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and Assistant Attorney General Kenneth L. Wainstein of the National Security Division announced today. (Read more)
October 22, 2007
Press Release
Colombian Man Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Support the FARC (DSS)
WASHINGTON – A Colombian man pleaded guilty to conspiracy for his role in attempting to provide material support to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a designated foreign terrorist organization, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and Assistant Attorney General Kenneth L. Wainstein of the National Security Division announced today. (Read more)
October 16, 2007
Press Release
Two Men Plead Guilty to Conspiring to Support the FARC (DSS)
WASHINGTON – Two South American men have pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material support to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, a designated foreign terrorist organization, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and Assistant Attorney General Kenneth L. Wainstein of the National Security Division announced today. (Read more)
Monday, October 1, 2007
Press Release
Justice Department Seeks Deportation of Former SS Attack Dog Handler Who Guarded Two Nazi Concentration Camps (OSI)
WASHINGTON – The Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security have commenced proceedings before an immigration judge in Atlanta seeking the removal of a Lawrenceville, Ga., resident who served the Nazi SS during World War II as a handler of attack dogs and a guard of prisoners at the notorious Dachau and Buchenwald Concentration Camps in Nazi Germany. (Read more)
Friday, September 21, 2007
Press Release
Three Men Indicted on Alien Smuggling, Fraud, Conspiracy Charge (DSS)
WASHINGTON – A federal grand jury in Pensacola, Fla., has indicted three men for their role in a large alien smuggling visa fraud scheme that illegally brought more than 200 aliens into the area of Destin, Fla., to work in major hotels and resorts, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Gregory R. Miller of the Northern District of Florida announced today. (Read more)
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Press Release
Former Nazi Concentration Camp Guard Loses U.S. Citizenship, Departs United States (OSI)
WASHINGTON – A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has entered an order revoking the U.S. citizenship of Martin Hartmann for his role as an armed SS guard at the notorious Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp in Nazi Germany during World War II, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division announced today. (Read more)
September 12, 2007
Press Release
Salvadoran Man Pleads Guilty for His Role in Conspiracy to Smuggle Scores of Migrants into the United States (DSS)
WASHINGTON – A Salvadoran national has pleaded guilty to engaging in a conspiracy to smuggle or attempt to smuggle scores of Central American migrants into the United States for private financial gain, and to causing the death of at least one person during the journey, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta of the Southern District of Florida announced today. (Read more)
September 6, 2007
Press Release
Chuckie Taylor Charged with Additional Acts of Torture in Superseding Indictment (DSS)
WASHINGTON – A federal Grand Jury in Miami today charged Roy Belfast Jr. in a superseding indictment with additional crimes of torture occurring in Liberia between 1999 to 2003, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta of the Southern District of Florida, Assistant Secretary Julie L. Myers for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Assistant Director Joseph Billy Jr. for the Counterterrorism Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced today. (Read more)
August 24, 2007
Press Release
British National Pleads Guilty To Conspiracy To Commit Visa Fraud (DSS)
WASHINGTON – Michael J. Leggett, 52, a citizen of the United Kingdom residing in St. Cloud, Fla., has pleaded guilty to a criminal information charging him with two counts of conspiracy to commit visa fraud, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and Acting U.S. Attorney James R. Klindt for the Middle District of Florida announced today. (Read more)
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Press Release
Massachusetts Man Who Helped Carry Out WWII Nazi Mass Murder of Jews in Poland is Ordered Deported (OSI)
WASHINGTON – An immigration judge in Boston has ordered the removal of Vladas Zajanckauskas, a Sutton, Mass., man who served during World War II in a notorious Nazi unit that took part in the brutal liquidation of the Warsaw Jewish Ghetto in German-occupied Poland, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher for the Criminal Division announced today. (Read more)
August 3, 2007
Press Release
Jordanian Man Sentenced for Role in Smuggling Scores of Iraqis and Jordanians into States (DSS)
WASHINGTON – Thaer Omran Ismail Asaifi was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary Collyer to 72 months in prison for his role in a major conspiracy to smuggle Iraqis and Jordanians into the United States, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor of the District of Columbia announced today. (Read more)
Friday, March 30, 2007
Press Release
Federal Court Revokes Citizenship of Former Nazi Policeman Who Shot Jews (OSI)
WASHINGTON – A federal judge in Detroit has revoked the U.S. citizenship of John (Ivan) Kalymon of Troy, Mich., because he shot Jews in 1942 while serving in a Nazi-sponsored police unit that helped liquidate a Nazi-created Jewish ghetto in German-occupied Poland, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher for the Criminal Division announced today. (Read more)
Friday, March 16, 2007
Press Release
Justice Department Moves to Deport Former Nazi Policeman Who Participated in Wartime Persecution of Jews (OSI)
WASHINGTON – The Justice Department has asked an immigration judge in Chicago to enter an order directing the deportation of Osyp Firishchak, a Chicago resident who served during World War II in the Nazi-sponsored Ukrainian Auxiliary Police (UAP) in German-occupied L’viv, announced Alice S. Fisher, Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division. That city, now in western Ukraine, was part of Poland until 1939. (Read more)
Thursday, January 4, 2007
Press Release
Immigration Judge Orders Deportation of Wisconsin Man Who Helped Carry Out 1943 Nazi Mass Murder of Jews (OSI)
WASHINGTON – An immigration judge in Chicago has ordered the removal of a Wisconsin man who, by his own admission, stood guard during a Nazi mass killing operation in occupied Poland in 1943, with orders to “shoot to kill” any still-living Jewish victim who attempted escape, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher for the Criminal Division announced today. (Read more)