During the first three months of ICE's 2018 fiscal year, the agency deported 56,710 people, 46 percent of whom had not been convicted of a crime. This year, ICE expects to deport 209,000 people. It is highly unlikely that Palij will be among them -- even though Palij is a war criminal, the last Nazi war criminal living in the United States.

Palij served as a guard during World War II at the Trawniki forced labor camp, which also trained those participating in "Operation Reinhard," a plan to exterminate every Jew in German-occupied Poland. He entered the country in 1949 without divulging his past and was later awarded citizenship, of which he was stripped by a federal judge in 2004 and ordered deported. [...]

"[Germany has] done a pretty good job the last few years in pursuing individuals for Nazi atrocities who were found in Germany," said Drimmer. "What they have not done a good job of is taking guys like Jakiw Palij, who were found outside of Germany, but are every bit as culpable, if not more culpable, than the individuals found inside Germany's borders." [...]

According to ICE statistics, 8,275 people with deportation orders remained in the U.S. between 2012 and 2015 because no other country would take them; the agency says it "does not have the authority to force removals upon a sovereign nation". An ICE spokesperson said nine countries are currently classified as "uncooperative": Burma; Eritrea; Cambodia; Hong Kong; China; Laos; Cuba; Iran; and Vietnam. Germany, Ukraine, and Poland are not on the list.

ICE declined to comment and said to speak to the State Department, which also declined to comment.

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