They cleaned up ground zero.
asserted
They → clean → ground
Now many are hiding from ICE
NEW YORK —
asserted
many → hide → ICE
Once a week, in a Queens office building, a group of immigrants in their 50s and 60s gathers.
asserted
group → gather → 50s
They've all known each other for some 25 years: they met when they were cleaning up ground zero together.
asserted
they → know → ground
They are among the thousands of cleanup crews who rushed to the destruction in lower Manhattan following the attacks of 9/11.
asserted
who → rush → 9/11
They were all exposed to toxic debris, and psychological trauma.
asserted
They → expose → debris
And as the Trump administration pursues its aggressive immigration agenda, many are living in enhanced fear of immigration enforcement.
asserted
many → pursue → enforcement
"We would have lunch in the rubble, in the dust"
asserted
We → have → dust
"Every morning I would stand on Roosevelt Avenue and 82nd," says a woman in the group named Lucelly.
asserted
woman → stand → group
She asked NPR to withhold her last name — like many here, she's undocumented.
asserted
she → ask → many
She came to the U.S. from Colombia in 2000, and would wait on the avenue to get picked up for cleaning gigs.
asserted
She → come → gigs
On the morning of September 12th, 2001, the day after the attacks, a van pulled up.
asserted
van → pull → attacks
"Come on, let's go!" she recalls the driver yelling.
asserted
driver → come → ?
They offered her $8.50 an hour to clean the wreckage.
asserted
They → offer → wreckage
"If the driver had told us: 'We're going to a danger zone,' people would not have rushed in," she says.
asserted
she → tell → zone
But she says it felt like just another job, and a duty to the city that had welcomed her.
asserted
that → say → her
Like a lot of people who went to clean up at ground zero, she went armed only with her house-cleaning gear: a paper mask and rubber gloves.
asserted
she → go → gear
"We would have lunch in the rubble, in the dust," she recalls.
asserted
she → have → dust
"Then we'd go home wearing the same clothing we'd been working in."
asserted
we → go → clothing
Since then, Lucelly has battled breast cancer and respiratory disease.
asserted
Lucelly → battle → cancer
She is among the tens of thousands whose health was severely compromised by exposure to the hundreds of tons of toxic debris the tower's collapse released into the air.
asserted
collapse → compromise → air
Officials knew within weeks but called it safe.
asserted
Officials → know → it
What we know about the undocumented workers at ground zero
It's not known how many undocumented workers were involved in the 9/11 cleanup, but advocates say it's somewhere between 2,000 and 6,000 people.
asserted
it → know → cleanup
"There was this rush to clean everything up quickly," says social worker Rosa Bramble Caballero, who runs the clean up crew support group in Queens.
asserted
who → be → Queens
"The city hired multiple contractors for the clean up.
asserted
city → hire → up
In turn these contractors subcontracted, and those subcontractors subcontracted, and hired day laborers who were standing in street corners in Queens.
asserted
who → subcontract → Queens
Mind you, these were companies who had received millions of dollars from the city.
asserted
who → mind → city
Many women who did housekeeping were taken there.
asserted
who → do → housekeeping
And then they got there and realized they were actually at ground zero, which, by the way, sometimes they were not told that that's where they were going."
asserted
they → get → way
A nearly decade-old legislative push to give undocumented ground zero workers a path to citizenship has failed to gain traction.
asserted
push → give → traction
The 9/11 Immigrant Worker Freedom Act was first introduced in 2017, then again in 2021.
asserted
Act → introduce → 2021
It was reintroduced in 2025 by Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
asserted
It → reintroduce → Cortez
No Republicans have signed on to the bill, each version of which has remained stalled in the House Judiciary Committee.
asserted
version → sign → Committee
On the eve of the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Representative Ocasio-Cortez told NPR she believes "this legislation genuinely should be bipartisan and non-controversial.
asserted
legislation → tell → NPR
These heroes, many of whom sacrificed their lives, are people who are absolutely deserving of citizenship."
asserted
who → sacrifice → citizenship
But with immigration reform remaining a highly divisive topic, it is unlikely the bill would advance.
asserted
bill → remain → ?
NPR reached out to the White House for comment, and received no response.
asserted
NPR → reach → response
"I was blindfolded": the psychological toll of 9/11 cleanup
asserted
I → blindfold → cleanup
A woman named Rosa, from Guatemala, says she arrived at the site the days after the attack.
asserted
she → name → attack
She asked that NPR withhold her last name: although she is legally in the U.S., she is nervous about increased immigration enforcement operations here in Queens.
asserted
she → ask → Queens
…and 50 more, not listed.
The Aporia
