Visas for 15 Who Lost Relatives on 9/11
Federal officials granted temporary legal status on Friday to 15 illegal immigrants whose spouses or parents died on 9/11 but who have remained largely invisible, living in the shadows of society for fear of deportation.
Those officials and the families’ supporters said the decision would clear the way for Congress to move forward on bills that would grant the immigrants permanent legal status.
“When I told my clients about it, there were tears of joy,” said Debra Brown Steinberg, a lawyer representing several of the immigrants. “They can show their faces and say their names.”
“Now they can make 9/11 their story, too,” she added. “It’s a great day.”
The immigrants have lived in limbo since the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. They were the wives, husbands and children of several victims in the World Trade Center, some of whom were legal immigrants, the rest of whom were illegal themselves.
While the families received payments from the Victim Compensation Fund, ranging from $875,000 to $4.1 million, they have not been able to easily invest the payments because they lacked Social Security numbers and other identity documents, their lawyers said. Some of the immigrants were so fearful of being extorted or robbed, with no recourse in the justice system, that they did not tell some relatives and friends of their losses.
A bill introduced last year by two members of Congress from New York, Peter T. King, a Republican, and Carolyn B. Maloney, a Democrat, would grant permanent resident visas to the survivors.
Several Republicans in the House who opposed the measure demanded more information about the immigrants to ensure that they were not terrorists or criminals. But the immigrants’ lawyers said they were reluctant to provide any information that might expose their clients to deportation...
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Those officials and the families’ supporters said the decision would clear the way for Congress to move forward on bills that would grant the immigrants permanent legal status.
“When I told my clients about it, there were tears of joy,” said Debra Brown Steinberg, a lawyer representing several of the immigrants. “They can show their faces and say their names.”
“Now they can make 9/11 their story, too,” she added. “It’s a great day.”
The immigrants have lived in limbo since the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. They were the wives, husbands and children of several victims in the World Trade Center, some of whom were legal immigrants, the rest of whom were illegal themselves.
While the families received payments from the Victim Compensation Fund, ranging from $875,000 to $4.1 million, they have not been able to easily invest the payments because they lacked Social Security numbers and other identity documents, their lawyers said. Some of the immigrants were so fearful of being extorted or robbed, with no recourse in the justice system, that they did not tell some relatives and friends of their losses.
A bill introduced last year by two members of Congress from New York, Peter T. King, a Republican, and Carolyn B. Maloney, a Democrat, would grant permanent resident visas to the survivors.
Several Republicans in the House who opposed the measure demanded more information about the immigrants to ensure that they were not terrorists or criminals. But the immigrants’ lawyers said they were reluctant to provide any information that might expose their clients to deportation...