The US government sought Monday to clear the way to deport former death camp guard John Demjanjuk, just days after a US court postponed his deportation for proof that he is fit to travel to Germany.
The US Justice Department's brief seeks to dismiss the pending motion to stay Demjanjuk's deportation "because the matter sought to be reviewed is now moot."
The government said in its filing that Demjanjuk had "engaged in numerous delaying tactics and that reasons no longer exist for an emergency stay of deportation."
Demjanjuk got an 11th-hour reprieve on April 14 when a federal appeals court in Ohio granted the 89-year-old's request for a stay of deportation shortly after he had been carried in a wheelchair out of his home to be taken to a waiting flight.
The Sixth US Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday said his deportation should be stayed until April 23. It also called on the government to inform the court about its plans to transport Demjanjuk, who is said to suffer from a variety of illnesses.
The elderly Ohio resident had argued that because his deportation was "imminent," he could be deported before the Board of Immigration Appeals ruled on his motion to reopen the case.
{{/usCountry}}The elderly Ohio resident had argued that because his deportation was "imminent," he could be deported before the Board of Immigration Appeals ruled on his motion to reopen the case.
{{/usCountry}}"Since the BIA has denied his motion to reopen, there is no present, live controversy on which this court can rule," the Justice Department argued.
Demjanjuk is wanted in Germany on charges of aiding the deaths of at least 29,000 Jews in concentration camps in Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II.