Former Nazi guard appeals to immigration board

FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — A former Nazi concentration camp guard, who has lived quietly in western Pennsylvania for more than 50 years, is taking his deportation fight to the nation’s highest immigration court.

The Board of Immigration Appeals in Falls Church heard the appeal Thursday from 88-year-old Anton Geiser of Sharon, Pa.

He acknowledges serving in the Nazi SS as a guard at two concentration camps. A federal judge ordered him deported in 2010.

But his lawyer argued that the court should have taken into account the fact that Geiser was forced to join the SS against his will, as a 17-year-old.

Government lawyers argued to uphold the deportation. They said federal law places former Nazis in a harsher immigration category, and no exceptions should be made because of compulsory service.