4 who helped catch NYC attack suspect need help now
After New NEW YORK —
York’s worst subway attack in decades, a Mexican woman who had been on the ill-fated train gave police her cellphone to retrieve videos of the chaos. She was living in the country illegally.
The next day, the suspect, Frank James, walked by three men upgrading surveillance cameras at a hardware store in the East Village in Manhat- tan. They flagged down police officers. They were a Mexican immigrant living in the coun- try illegally, a Lebanese stu- dent, and an American-born Syrian who had fled civil war and left his parents behind.
Authorities have credited all four with helping to capture James, who is charged with opening fire inside an N train on April 12 in Brooklyn, leaving dozens of people hurt. Now, the helpers are seeking protection from the nation’s immigration system.
“We are proud of what we did,” said Zack Tahhan, 22, the Syrian American whose ecstatic retelling of the suspect’s capture made him a viral sensation. “But now we are worried about our families.”
The helpers and their lawyers are in the early stages of applying for visas set aside for victims, witnesses and informants who help law enforcement, and determin- ing whether they can access alternatives like humanitarian parole or political asylum.
Their lawyers say aiding their clients would help to rebuild trust among Muslims and immigrants after years of heightened hostility toward them under President Donald Trump. More than one-third of New York’s 8.8 million inhab- itants are immigrants, includ- ing 500,000 people living in the country illegally, according to city statistics. More than 760,000 residents are Muslim.
“Any sign of mutual trust between those authorities and communities could cer- tainly go some way,” said Jessica Bolter, an associate policy analyst at Washington’s nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute.
Rifat Harb, a lawyer, represents Tahhan in his quest to be reunited with his parents, who are refugees in Tur- key. He said the United States should emulate other countries that swiftly welcomed immigrants who performed heroic deeds.
“Something like this needs to get the same appreciation,” he said.
Luis Gomez Alfaro, an immi- gration lawyer who represents two of the four subway help- ers, said he hoped Mayor Eric Adams’ administration would be more assertive in nudging federal immigration officials on behalf on their clients.
“We really want the city to spearhead this, because the honors keep coming,” he said. “But as far as the actual help, we’re still waiting.”
Adams has hailed the helpers as heroes, handing them proclamations at a ceremony at police headquarters. Later, at a City Hall event honoring Mexican Americans on Cinco de Mayo, he highlighted Francisco Puebla’s role.
Puebla, the manager of Saifee Hardware and Garden where Tahhan and Mohamad Cheikh worked, was directing the camera installers when James walked by. Puebla said he hesitated to call the police, but when a cruiser stopped at a red light, they alerted officers.
Gomez Alfaro, the lawyer, said Puebla’s role could make him eligible for an S visa for informants, but only 250 are available each year.
Puebla, who immigrated 22 years ago to escape poverty, said he wants residency to raise his two sons and start a hardware business without constant fear of deportation.