Renunciation of citizenship and Portuguese refugeIn 1980, Trifa gave up his American citizenship[6][2][11] and, in 1982, he left the United States in order to avoid deportation due to the ongoing investigation.[6][8][11] He had earlier agreed to deportation before an immigration judge in Detroit, explaining that the trial was placing a financial strain on his congregation.[6][2]Nevertheless, his adversaries considered Trifa's to be an admission of guilt, in respect to both the technical charge and the accusations of war crimes.[2] According to Time, although Trifa's defense team rejected the claims, it did not deny Trifa's fascist and antisemitic convictions and speeches, including the 1941 statements, but stated that its client had no intention of causing a pogrom.[2] They also argued that Valerian Trifa had acted after being forced to choose between the pro-Soviet and the pro-Nazi camps, contending that antisemitism was "rampant at the time."[2]After spending two years searching for a country to give him refuge, he settled in Estoril, Portugal.[6][8] In an interview he gave shortly before leaving, Valerian Trifa claimed that he had "happened to get put in a moment of history when some people wanted to make a point. The point was to revive the Holocaust. But all this talk by the Jews about the Holocaust is going to backfire."[6]In autumn 1984, the authorities declared the archbishop an undesirable, and indicated that he had failed to reveal his fascist sympathies upon requesting and obtaining a temporary visa.[16][12] According to Reuters, Portuguese officials indicated that "it was against Portugal's interests for Archbishop Trifa to live here and he must leave as soon as possible."[12] Initially, they allowed the prelate three months to leave the country's territory.[16] Trifa contested the decision with the Supreme Administrative Court.[12]Valerian Trifa died aged 72, at the hospital in Cascais, where he was undergoing emergency treatment for a heart attack.[6]
