AOC reintroduces bill for 9/11 cleanup crews’ status
New York – Rep. Alexandria OcasioCortez and two other legislators reintroduced a bill in the House on Friday to put immigrants who cleared debris after the Sept. 11 attacks on a fast track to legal immigration status in the U.S.
The 9/11 Immigrant Worker Freedom Act is a revised version of a bill that former Rep. Joseph Crowley of New York introduced in 2017 that did not advance in the House. Ocasio-Cortez defeated Crowley in a 2018 Democratic primary, winning the seat representing parts of the Bronx and Queens.
Immigrants in New York, many of whom are Spanish-speaking cleanup workers, have long asked to obtain legal immigration status in the U.S. as compensation for their work and the subsequent health problems they suffered after the attacks.
Hired informally by cleaning companies, the workers cleared debris, asbestos and dust inside lower Manhattan buildings for months without adequate protective gear.
But 20 years after 9/11, only several dozens are still participating in protests and making the request, while others have abandoned that fight.
Rep. Adriano Espaillat and Rep. Grace Meng, both from New York, are lead co-sponsors of the bill.
“By stepping up for our country at a critical moment, these individuals sacrificed their mental, emotional, and physical health”, Ocasio-Cortez, Espaillat and Meng said in submitted testimony.
Prospects for passage of the bill now, even with Democratic control of Congress, are highly uncertain, with the parties deeply divided over most immigration legislation.