Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section Press Releases, Speeches and Testimony for 2004

Wednesday, December 29, 2004

Press Release

Justice Department Moves To Revoke U.S. Citizenship Of Former Nazi Policeman Who Assisted In Persecuting Jews (OSI)

WASHINGTON – Assistant Attorney General Christopher A. Wray of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie of the District of New Jersey announced today that the Department of Justice has asked a federal court in Trenton, New Jersey, to revoke the U.S. citizenship of Michael Bojcun, a Trenton resident who allegedly served in the Nazi-sponsored Ukrainian Auxiliary Police (“UAP”) during World War II. (Read more)

Friday, December 17, 2004

Press Release

Government Moves To Deport Nazi Death Camp Guard John Demjanjuk (OSI)

WASHINGTON – Assistant Attorney General Christopher A. Wray of the Criminal Division announced today that the Department of Justice has asked an immigration judge to deport John Demjanjuk, a retired auto-worker who served during World War II as an armed guard at the Nazi’s Sobibor extermination camp, Majdanek concentration camp and Flossenbürg concentration camp. (Read more)

Thursday, October 21, 2004

Press Release

Appeals Court Upholds Deportation Of Nazi Criminal (OSI)

WASHINGTON – Assistant Attorney General Christopher A. Wray of the Criminal Division announced today that a federal appeals court has affirmed an order directing the deportation of Algimantas Dailide, 82, a former resident of Brecksville, Ohio, and Gulfport, Florida, for his role in the persecution of Jews in Nazi-occupied Vilnius, Lithuania, during World War II. (Read more)

September 8, 2004

Press Release

Three Arrested In Conspiracy To Smuggle Aliens Into The United States From The Middle East (DSS)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Assistant Attorney General Christopher A. Wray of the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Wainstein of the District of Columbia, and Michael J. Garcia, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), today announced the arrest of three Michigan residents on charges of running an alien smuggling operation that illegally brought citizens from Iraq, Jordan and other Middle Eastern countries to the United States. (Read more)

Monday, August 30, 2004

Press Release

Deportation Order Upheld In Case Of Former Nazi Concentration Camp Guard (OSI)

WASHINGTON – Christopher A. Wray, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Criminal Division, announced today that the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) has affirmed an immigration judge’s order directing the deportation of former SS concentration camp guard Theodor Szehinskyj of West Chester, Pennsylvania, because he participated in Nazi-sponsored persecution of civilians during World War II. (Read more)

Monday, August 9, 2004

Press Release

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

WASHINGTON – Christopher A. Wray, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Criminal Division, today announced that the Justice Department has asked a federal court in Pittsburgh to revoke the U.S. citizenship of a Sharon, Pennsylvania resident, Anton Geiser, for participating in Nazi-sponsored acts of persecution against civilians during World War II. The complaint alleges that Geiser engaged in persecution while serving as an armed SS concentration camp guard on behalf of Nazi Germany. (Read more)

July 2, 2004

Press Release

Egyptian National Charged In International Alien Smuggling Conspiracy (DSS)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Assistant Attorney General Christopher A. Wray of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Kenneth Wainstein of the District of Columbia announced today that an Egyptian national has been arrested on charges stemming from his role in an international conspiracy to smuggle aliens into the United States. (Read more)

June 23, 2004

Press Release

Hawaii Resident Pleads Guilty In Cambodian Adoption Conspiracy (DSS)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Assistant Attorney General Christopher A. Wray of the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney John McKay of the Western District of Washington, U.S. Attorney Edward Kubo, Jr., of the District of Hawaii and Michael J. Garcia, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, announced today that Lauryn Galindo, 53, has pleaded guilty to charges in a criminal information of conspiracy to commit visa fraud, conspiracy to launder money and the structuring of financial transactions. (Read more)

Monday, June 14, 2004

Press Release

Immigration Judge Orders New York Man Who Served As Guard At Nazi Labor Camp Deported To Ukraine (OSI)

WASHINGTON – Assistant Attorney General Christopher A. Wray of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Roslynn R. Mauskopf of the Eastern District of New York announced today that immigration judge Robert Owens has ordered the deportation to Ukraine of Jakiw Palij, 80, of Queens, New York, on the basis of his service during World War II as an armed guard at the Trawniki forced-labor camp in Nazi-occupied Poland and his subsequent concealment of that service when he immigrated to the United States. Palij’s United States citizenship was revoked in August 2003 by a federal judge on the basis of his wartime activities and postwar immigration fraud. (Read more)

Tuesday, June 1, 2004

Press Release

Court Of Appeals Upholds Deportation Order Against Former Nazi Concentration Camp Guard (OSI)

WASHINGTON – Assistant Attorney General Christopher A. Wray of the Criminal Division today announced that a federal appeals court has upheld an 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)

Friday, April 30, 2004

Press Release

Appeals Court Affirms Ruling That John Demjanjuk Persecuted Jews As Nazi Guard (OSI)

WASHINGTON – Assistant Attorney General Christopher A. Wray of the Criminal Division announced today that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit unanimously held that the Government proved “through clear, unequivocal and convincing evidence” that John Demjanjuk was a guard at the Sobibor extermination camp and at the Majdanek and Flossenbürg concentration camps, and a member of the SS-run Trawniki unit “dedicated to exploiting and exterminating” Jews in Poland. (Read more)

Wednesday, April 14, 2004

Press Release

Federal Judge Revokes Citizenship Of New Jersey Man Who Served As Guard At Nazi Slave Labor Camps (OSI)

WASHINGTON – Assistant Attorney General Christopher A. Wray of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie of the District of New Jersey announced today that U.S. District Court Judge Joseph E. Irenas in Camden, New Jersey, has revoked the U.S. citizenship of Andrew Kuras, 81, of Mays Landing, who admitted serving during World War II as an armed guard at three Nazi slave labor camps and further admitted to concealing that service at the time he immigrated to the United States. (Read more)

Wednesday, March 24, 2004

Press Release

Court Upholds Deportation Of Catskills Man Who Served As Nazi Camp Guard (OSI)

WASHINGTON – Christopher A. Wray, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Criminal Division, announced today that an immigration appeals court has paved the way for the deportation of an Ellenville, N.Y. man who served as a guard at two SS-slave labor camps in Nazi-occupied Poland. (Read more)

Friday, March 12, 2004

Press Release

Court Upholds Deportation Of Detroit-Area Nazi Collaborator Found Hiding Under Staircase (OSI)

WASHINGTON – Christopher A. Wray, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Criminal Division, announced today that the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) has affirmed an order directing the deportation to Germany of Johann Leprich, 78, a Detroit-area man who served as an armed guard at the notorious Mauthausen concentration camp during World War II. (Read more)

Wednesday, February 25, 2004

Press Release

Federal Judge Revokes U.S. Citizenship Of Former Nazi Concentration Camp Guard In St. Louis (OSI)

WASHINGTON – Christopher A. Wray, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Criminal Division, today announced that a federal court in St. Louis, Missouri has ordered the denaturalization of Adam Friedrich, 82, a retired clothing manufacturing company worker living in St. Louis. In stripping Friedrich of his U.S. citizenship, U.S. District Judge Carol E. Jackson found that he had personally assisted in persecution by serving during World War II as an armed SS guard at three Nazi concentration camps. (Read more)

February 5, 2004

Press Release

New Mexico Man Charged With Murdering Mother On Indian Reservation (DSS)

WASHINGTON, D.C.- A Magistrate Judge in the District of New Mexico ordered the pre-trial detention of Louis P. Romero, recently charged with the murder of his 71 year-old mother, the Justice Department announced today. (Read more)

January 15, 2004

Press Release

Defendants Sentenced In Illegal Gun Straw Purchase Conspiracy (DSS)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Assistant Attorney General Christopher A. Wray of the Criminal Division announced today that an Indianapolis resident has been sentenced to 63 months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to purchase firearms for prohibited persons. (Read more)

Wednesday, January 14, 2004

Press Release

Nazi Collaborator Who Helped Lure Jews For Execution Departs United States (OSI)

WASHINGTON – Christopher A. Wray, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, today announced that Algimantas Dailide, 82, a retired real estate agent living in Gulfport, Florida, has permanently departed the United States for Germany. A 2002 court order directed the defendant’s deportation because of his involvement in the Nazi persecution of Jewish civilians in Vilnius, Lithuania during World War II. (Read more)

Thursday, January 8, 2004

Press Release

Justice Department Moves To Revoke U.S. Citizenship Of Former Nazi Ghetto Policeman Who Shot Jews (OSI)

WASHINGTON – Christopher A. Wray, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Criminal Division, announced today that the Justice Department has asked a federal court in Detroit to revoke the U.S. citizenship of a Troy, Michigan resident for his wartime actions in a unit that helped administer and liquidate a Jewish ghetto in Nazi-occupied Poland. (Read more)

Thursday, January 8, 2004

Press Release

Justice Department Indicts Employee Of Adoption Agency On Visa Fraud Charges (DSS)

WASHINGTON, D.C.- Christopher A. Wray, Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney John McKay for the Western District of Washington, announced the voluntary surrender and initial appearance of Lauryn Galindo, 52, in Seattle, to an indictment charging one-count of conspiracy to commit visa fraud and four counts of visa fraud. (Read more)

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