Three decades after the federal government began trying to deport a former autoworker accused of helping murder Jewish prisoners in Nazi death camps, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals scheduled oral arguments for today on John Demjanjuk’s challenge of a final removal order by an immigration judge.

Demjanjuk, now 87, has steadfastly maintained that he was a Nazi prisoner himself, forced to work as a guard, and that he hurt no one.

The current deportation case is based on evidence uncovered by the Justice Department that he was a guard in the Nazi death camps. That evidence led courts to strip Demjanjuk of his citizenship — on the basis of falsified information charge. And immigration judge, Michael Creppy ruled that Demjanjuk could be deported back to his native Ukraine — or Germany or Poland.

Demjanjuk’s attorney, John Broadley, argues that judge Creppy, had no authority to rule if Demjanjuk could be deported. Broadley contends that Creppy was an administrator who should have appointed an immigration judge to hear the case, rather than handle it himself. He wants the deportation order tossed out and a new hearing held.

The Board of Immigration Appeals has refused to set aside Creppy’s ruling, and Broadley wants the 6th Circuit to review that denial.

(Source: Associated Press)