Relief Sought for 9/11 Immigrants

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The New York Sun

WASHINGTON – As the country prepares to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001, lawmakers here are scrambling to provide overdue relief for some of the tragedy’s forgotten victims.


A spokeswoman for the Senate minority leader, Harry Reid, a Democrat of Nevada, said yesterday that her office was in contact with Republican leadership to schedule a floor vote on a bill that would give green cards to the undocumented immigrant families of September 11 victims.


“We are hoping it will come to the floor around September 11, possibly Monday or sometime next week,” Fabiola Rodriguez-Ciampoli told The New York Sun yesterday. “So far, Senator Brownback is on the bill. We are talking to them and we are hoping they will do this.”


On Wednesday, Senator Brownback, a Republican of Kansas, and Senator Corzine,a Democrat from of New Jersey introduced the September 11th Humanitarian Relief and Patriotism Act. The legislation would provide legal recognition to dozens of spouses and children of noncitizens who were killed in the World Trade Center, allowing many of them, who have lived in constant fear of deportation, to begin the process of seeking American citizenship.


“This is clearly an appropriate and necessary thing to do, and the right thing to do,” Mr. Brownback said.


It is unclear whether the Democratic leader will get what he wants. Since returning to Washington, Congress has focused almost exclusively on providing federal relief to the victims of Hurricane Katrina and the two vacancies on the Supreme Court. A Republican Senate staffer, who asked not to be named, said the schedule for the leadership was “very tight.”


If the legislation were to pass, it would provide green cards to two classes of people: the families of deceased workers who did not have proper documentation and the families of visa holders whose work permits have expired since September 11, 2001. The second category of families was allowed to stay in the country for an additional year because of a provision in the original USA-Patriot Act, but that exemption has since expired.


Rep. Caroline Maloney, a Democrat of New York who introduced similar legislation in the House in July with a fellow New York congressman, Peter King, a Republican, said in a statement yesterday that the bill is appropriate in light of Sunday’s anniversary. “This small group of immigrants already had to endure the sudden death of their parents or spouses,” she said. “To kick them out of the country would be wrong, and as a nation of immigrants, it would run counter to our American ideals. Passing this overdue bill would be a fitting way to memorialize the fourth anniversary of 9-11.”


One of the strongest advocates for the bill is Debra Brown Steinberg, a lawyer who has represented the families of undocumented immigrants who lost loved ones in the Al Qaeda attacks. She has steadily worked behind the scenes to grant families legal amnesty from deportation and green cards so that they may to live and work openly in America.


“It would be so appropriate if we could resolve this problem before going into a fifth year without resolving their immigration status,” she said. Ms. Brown Steinberg last year tried to have the immigration status of her clients resolved through an executive order from the president but was unsuccessful.


In his floor speech Wednesday, Mr. Corzine echoed Ms. Brown Steinberg’s concerns: “Although our government has not moved forward with deportation procedures, the status of these families, who have already been through so much, remains uncertain. This act would provide the permanent relief these families need,” he said.


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