German authorities announced that they will seek extradition of John Demjanjuk, a former US citizen whose citizenship was revoked based on evidence that he was a Nazi guard during World War II.  According to The New York Times, the German government intends to prosecute Demjanjuk on charges that he was responsible for the murders of Jews deported to the Soibor concentration camp.  Authorities are convinced there is enough evidence to charge the former Cleveland , Ohio autoworker with murder – the only World War II-era crime on which the German statute of limitations has not elapsed, according to prosecutor Kurt Schrimm.  "If we were not convinced that the evidence would be enough then we wouldn’t go forward," Schrimm said of the case against Demjanjuk.  "We think he can be convicted."  

Demjanjuk, once now 88, has been fighting to keep his citizenship and keep from being deported for nearly 31 years.  He was initially cleared by an Israeli high court in 1986 after receiving evidence that another man, not Demjanjuk, was the Nazi guard, and in 1998, received full US citizenship.  The Justice Department shortly thereafter reopened his case after receiving evidence that he was indeed a former Nazi prison guard, and had also falsified information on his 1958 US citizenship application.  

This offer of extradition likely comes as welcome news to US Justice Department Officials, who had long been trying to deport him, but uncertainty over which country would accept him, what his legal status would be abroad, who would be willing to inherit nearly four decades’ worth of legal baggage, and Demjanjuk’s declining health all contributed to the former Nazi guard’s legal situation limbo. 

Efraim Zuroff, the top Nazi hunter at the Simon Wiesenthal Center , noted that Demjanjuk is No. 2 on the center's ''most wanted'' list of Nazi war criminals -- below only the brutal SS doctor Aribert Heim, whose whereabouts are unknown. ''I very much welcome the decision made by the German authorities to seek the extradition of Demjanjuk and hope that it will be expedited so that he can be prosecuted in Germany and punished for his crimes,'' Zuroff said.

Because the alleged crimes were committed outside Germany by a non-German, there is no German prosecutors' office that would automatically have jurisdiction -- so Schrimm's office has to petition Germany 's highest criminal court to have the case assigned. He said he expects to have the motion filed within the next two months; and once the case is assigned, the local prosecutors could then proceed with asking for extradition.  Despite that, Schrimm said he still thought Demjanjuk could be brought to Germany by the end of the year.  ''Mr. Demjanjuk is very old, so those involved are trying to do it quickly,'' he said.

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This month, President Bush issued a sweeping executive order that will require federal contractors to verify the legal status of all employees hired to work on new contracts, Congress Daily reports.  Despite the formal announcement, industry associations and immigration advocates found the order to be too vague, and shows that the administration has not addressed the mounting criticism of the E-Verify federal employee verification system.   

"I wish the president hadn’t issued the executive order but instead had pushed agencies to expand their consultation with the contracting community," said Alan Chvotkin, executive vice president for the Professional Services Council, adding that the federal government has done little to address exactly which workers will need to be checked, whether the mandate will apply to subcontractors, or what the consequences will be when the system cannot match a worker’s identity.  "I actually have more questions than answers," he said.  

"We think it’s extremely premature to extend this coverage to federal contractors without addressing the shortcomings of E-Verify," said Mike Aitken, director for The Society for Human Resource Management.  "If one looks at the requirements that have been placed on federal contractors, I think definitely that points towards some potential approach to require, eventually, all employers to use E-Verify through the regulatory process."  

The proposed rule detailing the mandate was issued last week, and will be followed by a 60-day period for public comment.  

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Immigration status will no longer prevent couples from obtaining licenses in Davidson County , TN , The Associated Press reports.  The decision made by the county, the largest county in Tennessee and home to state capital Nashville, may lead to a move that could have other Tennessee counties follow suit.  

Since at least 1998, county clerks in Tennessee asked for a Social Security card, or, failing that, a valid passport and visa.  But Davidson County Clerk John Arriola changed his county’s policy this month after a state attorney general’s opinion sided with a couple who sued him for refusing to issue them a marriage license.  Arriola initially refused the couple because the prospective groom didn’t have the proper documents.  

Nashville immigrant attorney Linda Rose said the change is good news for immigrants and restores a fundamental right.  But Theresa Harmon of Tennesseans for Responsible Immigration Policy maintains that the new policy will draw undocumented immigrants to the state and make it harder to deport them.