79-Year-Old World War II Refugee Remains in ICE Custody After Living in the U.S. for Over 70 Years

Born to Polish parents in a German refugee camp, Paul John Bojerski’s immigration case highlights the complexities and impracticalities of mass deportations.

In October, Paul John Bojerski, a 79-year-old grandfather who has been in the United States since he was five, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for not complying with a deportation order that was issued nearly 60 years ago. On Tuesday, a judge ordered Bojerski to remain in ICE detention as she considers the complications of the case.

Over the summer, Bojerski was told during a routine meeting with immigration officials that he must self-deport or face detention based on an unenforced deportation order issued in 1968, the Orlando Sentinel recently reported. But with no passport or country to return to, David Stoller, Bojerski's immigration attorney, says Bojerski has nowhere to go. 

"There are situations where it is just impracticable to try and deport them," Stoller told WESH 2 News, a local NBC News affiliate.

Bojerski, whose birth name is Zbigniew Janusz Bojerski, was born to Polish parents in a German refugee camp in 1946 following World War II and has been in the U.S. since his parents legally immigrated in 1952, according to the Sentinel. Although he was admitted as a lawful permanent resident under the Displaced Persons Act of 1948, Bojerski never became a citizen. Following a conviction for larceny and receiving stolen goods in his early 20s, Bojerski was ordered to be deported, reports the Sentinel. 

However, attempts to deport Bojerski failed after Poland and West Germany—both under communist rule at the time—refused to take him. And in 1969, the year following his deportation order, a court issued another order allowing Bojerski to be released from custody and apply for employment authorization, according to Stoller. 

After his release, Bojerski ran into legal trouble again and was convicted of rape in 1972. Bojerski's wife of 37 years, Gayle Bojerski, told the Sentinel that the conviction stemmed from a fraternity party incident involving multiple students. Although Bojerski was convicted and served three years in prison, he maintains that he was not involved in the incident. After his release, Bojerski would go on to complete school and become an optician, according to the Sentinel, which ultimately led him to move to Florida, where he met his wife and worked until his retirement.

Bojerski later applied for permanent residency through his wife, arguing that he was eligible because the 1968 deportation order had been fulfilled, and cited multiple trips out of the country where he had been able to reenter without issue or questioning by immigration officials. But the court did not rule the deportation order fulfilled—and therefore invalid—and denied his application for permanent residency. Instead, the court issued a new supervision order in 2010.

After 15 years of compliance under the most recent supervision order, Bojerski was taken into ICE custody during his follow-up immigration meeting on October 30. Since being detained, Bojerski—who's undergone three back surgeries—has been in declining health. According to his wife, Bojerski is unable to take his regular medications and is now in a wheelchair. Last week, Bojerski was left on the floor for hours and suffered a minor concussion after facility staff were locked out and unable to help after he fell from his chair while sleeping. 

During his bond hearing on Tuesday, Judge Romy Lerner said she had "concerns" about detaining Bojerski given his age and health, according to the Sentinel. But for now, Lerner has postponed making a determination on whether he could be released on bond, given the case's complications. "Unfortunately," Lerner said during the hearing, "no matter what I decide, the government may appeal my decision, which may involve you remaining in detention even if I were to grant the bond." The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) lawyer confirmed that she would appeal a decision to grant Bojerski bond—despite agreeing that he is not a flight risk—and will issue a new deportation order to deport him to a third country if Lerner rules the 1968 deportation order invalid, reports the Sentinel.

Bojerski's immigration case highlights the complexities and impracticalities facing the Trump administration's mass deportation campaign. Despite the DHS regularly boasting about arresting the "worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens," to fulfill the promise to "Make America Safe Again," 65 percent of people detained by immigration officials have no criminal record. And 95 percent have no violent convictions. But even those who do have a felony conviction may not all be violent criminals currently reflected in today's crime statistics. Some are people, like Bojerski, who've rebuilt their lives after paying their debt to society, and who are doing their best to follow immigration law through its many forms and iterations.