WASHINGTON, October 21 (RIA Novosti) - The US Department of Justice denied allegations it used social security payments as a bargaining tool to persuade suspected Nazis to leave the country of their own volition, department spokesperson Peter Carr told RIA Novosti.
“These alleged Nazi criminals left the US voluntarily, and in no case did the Justice Department advocate on any alleged Nazi criminal’s behalf so that the defendant could retain retirement benefits or agree not to seek any legally available means to revoke the benefits,” Carr said on Monday.
Carr was responding to an Associated Press report, released earlier on Monday, which accused the Justice Department of exploiting a legal loophole that allowed suspected Nazi war criminals to retain social security benefits if they left the United States on their own accord.
“Under existing law, all retirement benefits – Social Security and Medicare – are terminated if someone is ordered by the court to be removed from the US. However, if an individual renounces their US citizenship and voluntarily leaves the US, they might continue to receive Social Security benefits,” Carr explained.
He indicated that the constitution prevents the Justice Department from conducting domestic criminal prosecutions of alleged Nazis. However, in 1979, Congress did mandate the department to remove Nazi criminals “as expeditiously as possible” to countries where they would face prosecution.
Carr also mentioned that the United States was open to the idea of denying all benefits to Nazi criminals irrespective of how they exit.
“While there is no basis under existing law to terminate these Social Security benefits for criminals, the department is open to considering proposals addressing this issue,” Car added.
Since the 1979 mandate, according to Carr, the United States has led the world in efforts to remove Nazi criminals and has been recognized by the Simon Wiesenthal Center reports for its performance in identifying such suspects.
