President Trump tweeted a thank you to NYS Assemblyman Dov Hikind on Wednesday morning.

His tweet read “Thank you to Democrat Assemblyman Dov Hikind of New York for your very gracious remarks on @foxandfriends for our deporting a longtime resident Nazi back to Germany! Others worked on this for decades.”

As YWN reported on Tuesday, 95-year-old former Nazi camp guard, Jakiw Palij, the last Nazi war crimes suspect facing deportation from the U.S. was taken from his New York City home and spirited early Tuesday morning to Germany, following years of efforts to remove him from the United States.

Palij lived quietly in the U.S. for years, as a draftsman and then as a retiree, until nearly three decades ago when investigators found his name on an old Nazi roster and a fellow former guard spilled the secret that he was “living somewhere in America.”

Thank you to Democrat Assemblyman Dov Hikind of New York for your very gracious remarks on @foxandfriends for our deporting a longtime resident Nazi back to Germany! Others worked on this for decades.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 22, 2018

Hikind held protests outside the Nazi’s home for years, keeping the issue alive and lobbying elected officials to push for his deportation.

This last year, Hikind called on President Trump and U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions to take Palij into custody as an illegal alien deport him. Hikind organized nearly 100 of his colleagues in the NYS Assembly and Senate to lend their voices to the plea to remove Palij.

This morning, Hikind went on Fox & Friends to thank President Trump for his actions.

.@HikindDov: “When the president does something huge, like getting rid of the last Nazi from Queens, New York, say ‘thank you Mr. President.’” pic.twitter.com/NvbLD3um1l

— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 22, 2018

.@HikindDov: “It’s almost like fellow Democrats don’t want the president to do well.” pic.twitter.com/4OxWlf8vii

— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 22, 2018

My appearance on @foxandfriends this morning.

Thank you, @SteveDoocy for having me on. pic.twitter.com/G1GouhMAnG

— Dov Hikind (@HikindDov) August 22, 2018

Holocaust survivors join together to thank @potus @realdonaldtrump for ridding America of its last Nazi. pic.twitter.com/JL38qXkeBR

— Dov Hikind (@HikindDov) August 22, 2018

“Never give up! That is a vital message in this story of long-overdue justice,” said Hikind on Tuesday in a statement. “I have remained with this issue for 14 years because Palij’s presence here mocked the memory of the millions who perished. There was no question of his guilt. It was imperative that someone responsible for Nazi atrocities be held accountable for his crimes. While his victims can no longer seek justice, I am delighted that President Trump and his administration took it upon themselves to deliver justice.”

Earlier this year, Hikind recently released an emotional video about Palij, encouraging U.S. citizens to call the White House and demand justice.

Hikind also praised Eli Rosenbaum, Director of HRSP (Human Rights and Special Prosecutions) of the Department of Justice; Rambam Mesivta led by Rabbi Zev Meir Friedman for their constant efforts to bring attention of Palij’s crimes; and his numerous colleagues in the New York State Assembly and Senate.

Palij told Justice Department investigators who showed up at his door in 1993: “I would never have received my visa if I told the truth. Everyone lied.”

A judge stripped Palij’s citizenship in 2003 for “participation in acts against Jewish civilians” while an armed guard at the Trawniki camp in Nazi-occupied Poland and was ordered deported a year later.

But because Germany, Poland, Ukraine, and other countries refused to take him, he continued living in limbo in the two-story, red brick home in Queens he shared with his wife, Maria, now 86. His continued presence there outraged the Jewish community, attracting frequent protests over the years that featured such chants as “your neighbor is a Nazi!”

According to the Justice Department, Palij served at Trawniki in 1943, the same year 6,000 prisoners in the camps and tens of thousands of other prisoners held in occupied Poland were rounded up and slaughtered. Palij has admitted serving in Trawniki but denied any involvement in war crimes.

Last September, all 29 members of New York’s congressional delegation signed a letter urging the State Department to follow through on his deportation.

Richard Grenell, the U.S. ambassador who arrived in Germany earlier this year, said President Donald Trump — who is from New York — instructed him to make it a priority. He said the new German government, which took office in March, brought “new energy” to the matter.

The deportation came after weeks of diplomatic negotiations.

Grenell told reporters that there were “difficult conversations” because Palij is not a German citizen and was stateless after losing his U.S. citizenship, but “the moral obligation” of taking in “someone who served in the name of the German government was accepted.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC / AP)