Countless undocumented workers lost their lives on 9/11. They were hard-working parents, sisters, brothers, cousins, aunts who kept the World Trade Center windows, bathrooms, offices sparkling clean, worked the restaurants, maintained the lobbies. Today we honor the dead, but in the media no mention will be made of these individuals. No mention will be made of their family members who mourn today.
There were also countless undocumented who were not inside the buildings but came to the site and spent many weeks in the rescue, recovery, and clean-up efforts. "According to Oscar Paredes, director of Latin American Workers Project in Jackson Heights, about 3,000 undocumented workers assisted with the clean-up. . . most without the proper equipment to protect against exposure to hazardous materials. . . They and thousands of others hired by subcontractors got paid between $5 to $8 an hour for 8-12 hour shifts, sometimes working up to seven days." ("Sick 9/11 Shadow Workers") Many of these individuals are also suffering psychologically.
Two bills: "The September 11 Family Humanitarian Relief and Patriotism Act" and "The James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act" are eight years old. Legislators are still trying to get these bills passed.
I post these sites as well as the following link to a testimonio in honor of all of these individuals. Testimonio: read the story of Nayibe Padredino and her sister here. These sisters are brave to tell us their story of how they cleaned buildings that were near the WTC site. All they were given were paper facemasks.
Read also Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney's efforts to pass these 9/11 health bills here.
Next: give a call/e-mail the legislator in your state to help make these bills a reality.
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