Undocumented immigrants: The invisible victims of 9/11

memorialflagsThe undocumented immigrants impacted by the bombing of the World Trade Center were practically invisible to the government and agencies that were supposed to help them, two academics reported Tuesday.

The victims and their families were never properly counted because of their social and political isolation from wider society:

  • Immigrants without papers distrusted law enforcement and were wary of drawing attention to themselves.
  • Even if they did come forward, they lacked the paperwork necessary to prove claims and receive assistance.
  • Public opinion linking immigration and terrorism after 9/11 exacerbated the risks of coming out of the MIGRA closet.

Study authors Alexandra Délano and Benjamin Nienass explain:

Mas…Undocumented immigrants: The invisible victims of 9/11

9/11 ‘worst day ever’ for Alberto Qaeda of the Bronx

alberto_qaedalarge(PNS reporting from EL BRONX) Almost every adult American remembers where they were on Sept. 11, 2001, but few remember more vividly than Bronx janitor Alberto Qaeda.

“That was the first time I ever got my ass kicked.  And the second time.  And the third,” recalls Qaeda, who used to go by the more informal name of “Al.”

Qaeda (photo), who was 17 in 2001, was a student at City College of New York studying to be a cashier when the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center.

Mas…9/11 ‘worst day ever’ for Alberto Qaeda of the Bronx

GOP alerts Congressmen on vacay to ‘looming threat of liberalism’

boehnerplaysgolf(PNS reporting from WASHINGTON, DC) As the Republican-controlled House of Representatives left town for a five-week paid vacation, GOP leaders warned members returning to their home districts to be on high alert because of unspecified “threats of liberalism.”

“These liberals are out there with their ‘logic and facts and science,’ and all our malarkey will Ben Ghazi in our faces if we’re not careful,” Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) cautioned in a memo to his partisans Friday.

“Members are urged to stay close to their vacation retreats in gate-guarded communities, hunting lodges, country clubs and private marinas,” Boehner wrote, “and avoid potentially hazardous areas that may harbor liberals and their sympathizers. College campuses, where Republicans can easily get bamboozled by Improvised Intellectual Debates (IIDs), are particularly dangerous.”

Mas…GOP alerts Congressmen on vacay to ‘looming threat of liberalism’