Investigation of Alleged Nazi War Criminals Residing in the United States by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Department of Justice

Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) investigations of alleged Nazi war criminals were generally perfunctory prior to 1973. Since then, INS has given greater emphasis and priority to these cases. Investigation of INS progress in investigating alleged Nazi war criminals in the United States has been severely hampered by problems in getting access to needed records from the Department of Justice. Only very recently has GAO been granted access to third agency documents in the alleged Nazi war criminal files, and Justice has not ruled on GAO access to cases recommended for or under legal proceedings. The GAO review of 62 case files included 12 cases that had allegations prior to 1973, nine of which had been analyzed. All nine cases were closed. The volume of cases of alleged Nazi war criminals has never been more than minimal and INS had had very little success in excluding or deporting alleged Nazi war criminals. The results of increased INS investigations is attested to by the fact that, as of July 22, 1977, domestic investigations were underway in 13 cases, 69 cases had been referred to the Department of State for inquiry in Europe, and 21 cases were recommended for or under legal proceedings.