Former Nazi police officer to be deported

WASHINGTON, Nov. 15 (UPI) -- A Chicago man who served as a Nazi police officer during World War II has been ordered removed from the United States, the U.S. Justice Department said.

Immigration Judge Robert Vinikoor ordered Osyp Firishchak, 87, be sent to his native Ukraine because of his service in the Nazi-operated Ukrainian Auxiliary Police during World War II, the Justice Department said in a news release Thursday. The Ukrainian police unit assisted in the killing of more than 100,000 Jews in Nazi-occupied L'viv, Poland, now in Ukraine.

In his ruling, Vinikoor said Firishchak displayed "conduct contrary to civilization and human decency by participating in the Nazi-sponsored persecution on behalf of the Third Reich.

Firishchak immigrated to the United States in 1949 and became a U.S. citizen in 1954.

The department's Office of Special Investigation, which investigated the case, filed a denaturalization lawsuit against Firishchak in December 2003. The District Court decision revoking his citizenship was upheld in 2006 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. The OSI and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement division of the Department of Homeland Security then brought the removal action against Firishchak in March 2007.