Illegal aliens who lost family on 9/11 ask for residency

? In a small meeting room with a view of ground zero, 40 stories below, the woman from Ecuador sat with her attorney, holding a crumpled white napkin that she used to dab her eyes.

She is a Sept. 11 widow. Her husband worked at the Windows on the World restaurant and died that day.

As an illegal immigrant – one of about 25 identified as having lost a family member when the World Trade Center came crashing down – she could face deportation at any time. So could her 17-year-old son, whom she implores to carry around his father’s death certificate, in case someone asks him why he is in the U.S.

“I can’t get a driver’s license. I can’t go to apply for a job. I can’t work. I can’t study. I can’t fly. I can’t do anything,” the 38-year-old woman said in accented English this week as she described how her life in the U.S. is constrained by her illegal status. She spoke on condition that her name not be used, for fear she might be deported.

A New York City group is urging Congress to pass legislation that would grant permanent residence status to the illegal immigrants who lost family members on Sept. 11.

The bill, called the September 11th Family Humanitarian Relief and Patriotism Act, is attached as an amendment to the immigration reform package that is tied up in the lame-duck Congress.

Bill Fugazy Jr., vice chair of the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations, said the bill should be pulled out of the immigration package and given a vote on its own merits.

“It’s an easy thing for Congress to do,” he said, pointing out that the bill has bipartisan support. “Give them green cards so they have status here, so they can buy the homes that they would want to, and so they are not in the shadows of society.”

Eleven illegal immigrant victims were identified under the federal Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund, which gave financial support to survivors of the attack and paid an average of $2.1 million to the families.

Fugazy’s organization has launched a letter-writing campaign directed at the chairmen of both congressional committees charged with immigration issues, Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis.

An aide to Specter said she couldn’t immediately comment, but said his office was aware of the issue. E-mails and voice messages left at Sensenbrenner’s Washington office Saturday were not immediately returned.