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U.S. seeks to deport Bosnians over alleged war crimes

by Jesse Byrnes - 02/28/15 5:49 PM ET

The United States is moving to deport scores of Bosnians that officials believe concealed their involvement in war crimes during the 1990s in the former Yugoslavia when they fled to the United States among refugees, according to a The New York Times report Saturday.

Officials are pushing to deport at least 150 people who live in the United States, and have identified around 150 more they believe committed war crimes including during the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in which thousands of Muslims were killed by Bosnian Serb forces, according to the Times.

The number of suspects could reach upwards of 600 as more Bosnian records become available, officials told the newspaper.

“The more we dig, the more documents we find,” said Michael MacQueen, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement historian involved with investigations for the agency.

A Virginian soccer coach, four Las Vegas hotel casino workers and an Ohioan metal worker are among the suspects, many of whom were former soldiers, the newspaper reported. Some are now U.S. citizens.

“It’s guilt by association,” said Thomas M. Hoidal, a Phoenix lawyer who represented a pair of Bosnian Serbs out of a dozen facing deportation, according to the Times.

Tags Bosnia War crimes Yugoslavia