The U.S. Supreme Court denied an appeal by convicted Nazi camp guard John Demjanjuk to overturn his deportation order.
The court refused to hear the appeal without comment.
Demjanjuk, 88, had argued that the immigration judge, Michael Creppy, did not have the authority to order his deportation.
Demjanjuk was stripped of his U.S. citizenship in 1981 and extradited to Israel, where in 1993 he was acquitted by its Supreme Court. of being the sadistic Treblinka death camp guard “Ivan the Terrible.” He was stripped of his citizenship again in 2002 after new evidence showed he was a guard at another camp.
In December 2006, Creppy dismissed an appeal by Demjanjuk to have a deportation order overturned.
Demjanjuk denies that he helped the Nazis, claiming he was drafted into the Soviet army and captured by the Germans.
Though Demjanjuk’s legal fight is over, it is unlikely that he will be forced to leave the United States since neither Ukraine nor Germany will accept him. Demjanjuk was born in Soviet Ukraine, which gained its independence in 1990.
Demjanjuk, a resident of the Cleveland suburb of Seven Hills, is said to be in ill health.
“We are pleased with the Supreme Court’s decision to deny Mr. Demjanjuk’s petition for review of his case. Today’s order culminates litigation by the U.S. government to remove Mr. Demjanjuk from this country due to his participation in Nazi-sponsored acts of persecution during World War II. Mr. Demjanjuk has exhausted all legal avenues for reversing his removal order and the Department remains committed to
removing him from the United States,” Eli Rosenbaum, director of the Department of Justice’s Office of Special Investigations, said in a statement.
