President Reagan has been urged by 92 members of the House of Representatives to publicly affirm his support for the activities of the Justice Department’s Office of Special Investigations (OSI), the unit responsible with tracking down and litigating against alleged Nazi war criminals in the United States.
In urging the President to “publicly express your support” of the OSI, the letters signed by 79 Democrats and 13 Republican Congressmen, said, “We are confident that you would agree that those who perpetrated crimes against the Jews and other victims of Nazism should not be afforded the privilege of residence in our country. That is why we so emphatically support the work of the Office of Special Investigations.”
The Congressional letter was initiated by Rep. Gary Ackerman (D.N.Y.) and co-signed by 91 of his colleagues in response to a growing campaign directed against the OSI, established in 1979. The campaign has involved some Eastern European emigre groups that have charged, among other claims, that the OSI collaborates with the Soviet Union’s KGB, according to Ackerman.
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