A former guard for a labor camp in Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II has been arrested and deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, officials said early Tuesday.
Jakiw Palij, 95, of Queens, New York, was believed to be "the last known Nazi collaborator living in the U.S." before he was deported to Germany, ABC News reported.
According to an overnight White House news release, Palij worked as an armed guard at the Trawniki labor camp, where 6,000 Jewish prisoners were killed in November 1943.
Palij, who came to the U.S. in 1949 and gained citizenship eight years later, lied to immigration officials during the naturalization process, hiding his Nazi service by saying he had been a factory and farm worker during the war, the news release said.
Decades later, U.S. authorities discovered Palij's past and revoked his citizenship in 2003, the release said.
"Despite a court ordering his deportation in 2004, past administrations were unsuccessful in removing Palij," the press release said. "To protect the promise of freedom for Holocaust survivors and their families, President Trump prioritized the removal of Palij. Through extensive negotiations, President Trump and his team secured Palij's deportation to Germany and advanced the United States' collaborative efforts with a key European ally."
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