A United States immigration judge has ordered a Ukrainian-born man be deported from the United States because he participated in Nazi-led persecution of Jews in Europe during World War Two, the U.S. Justice Department said on Wednesday.
John Kalymon, 89, who is living in Troy, Michigan, was stripped of his U.S. citizenship in 2007 after a judge found that he had helped round up and shoot Jews in Lviv, Ukraine, while he served in the Ukrainian Auxiliary Police.
Kalymon came to the United States from Germany in 1949 and became a U.S. citizen in 1955. His lawyer, Elias Xenos, said "it is very likely we will appeal" the deportation order, a process that can take years.
In Detroit, U.S. Immigration Judge Elizabeth Hacker on Monday ordered Kalymon deported to Germany, Ukraine, Poland or any other country that will accept him after finding he hid his actions while seeking U.S. citizenship, the department said.
During Kalymon's citizenship trial, prosecutors provided a handwritten report done in 1942 by Kalymon in which he told his superiors he had killed one Jew and wounded another during an operation, the department said.
Other documents from the Ukrainian Auxiliary Police showed that he repeatedly participated in roundups and forced transport of Jews for two years, the department said. Kalymon admitted being a private in the police force but denied any role in persecuting Jews.
The deportation order came days after another accused Nazi war criminal, Peter Egner, died in Washington state before he could face a Feb. 22 trial aimed at stripping him of his U.S. citizenship.
He was accused by U.S. prosecutors of helping commit genocide by serving as a transport guard for mobile gas chambers and trains bound for the Auschwitz death camp. Egner had admitted he belonged to a Nazi-run security unit but denied he committed war crimes.
The Justice Department has won cases against 107 people in the United States who were identified as participating in Nazi persecutions during World War Two. There are eight similar cases still pending.