  We extend existing work on the propagation of ultra-high energy cosmic rays
in extragalactic magnetic fields to a possible component of heavy nuclei,
taking into account photodisintegration, pion production, and creation of e+e-
pairs. We focus on the influence of the magnetic field on the spectrum and
chemical composition of observed ultra-high energy cosmic rays. We apply our
simulations to the scenarios proposed by Anchordoqui et al, in which Iron
nuclei are accelerated in nearby starburst galaxies, and show that it is in
marginal agreement with the data. We also show that it is highly unlikely to
detect He nuclei from M87 at the highest energies observed $\sim3 10^{20} $eV
as required for the scenario of Ahn et al. in which the highest energy cosmic
rays originate from M87 and are deflected in a Parker spiral Galactic magnetic
field.
