Between 1,000 and 2,000 undocumented immigrants who participated in the 9/11 cleanup remain without legal status.
Posted by The Ebro, Laura, Rosenberg Show, Checked
- Sources
- 1 contradict4 support4 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 50%
The Ebro, Laura, Rosenberg ShowSep 12, 2026
The sources give competing estimates of undocumented 9/11 cleanup workers: older reports say up to 2,000, while the September 2026 NPR/KNPR piece says advocates estimate 2,000 to 6,000, and no source gives a 1,000 lower bound.
This claim is about the present, so it is judged as of the day it was checked.
What was said
… So there were an estimated 6,000 undocumented immigrants who participated in the recovery and cleanup, and an estimated 1,000 to 2,000 didn't have they remain without legal status. And so, in the years since then, many of them have been deported by George Bush. Some of them were deported. Some of them were deported by Obama. …
The Ebro, Laura, Rosenberg Show · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Contradicts. A September 2026 NPR/KNPR report says advocates estimate between 2,000 and 6,000 undocumented cleanup workers, with as many as 6,000 undocumented overall, so the claimed 1,000 to 2,000 range sits below the most recent estimate.[5]
Supports. Older estimates put the number of undocumented 9/11 cleanup workers at up to 2,000, which matches the upper bound of the claimed range.[2][6][7][8]
Context. The 1,000 lower bound and the claim that 1,000 to 2,000 remain without legal status appear in no source; the 2,000 figure in the Meng press release and the 2021 Democracy Now segment refers to workers who would gain a pathway to residency, not to a count of those still without status.[2][7]
Context. The 2021 AP and NBC reports note that only a few dozen were still actively campaigning for status, and the bill (H.R. 5700, reintroduced as H.R. 5333 in 2026) remained stalled in committee, so the population still lacking status is documented in general terms only.[1][3][4][5][9]
Sources
9 sources: 1 fact-checker, 3 primary, 4 not rated, 1 tier 2
- 1Immigrant Sept. 11 cleanup crews seek residency as a rewardapnews.com · fact-checker · cited for: context
- 2Meng, Ocasio-Cortez, Espaillat Introduce 9/11 Immigrant Worker Freedom Actmeng.house.gov · primary source · cited for: supports, context
- 3Text - H.R.5700 - 117th Congress (2021-2022): 9/11 Immigrant ...congress.gov · primary source · cited for: context
- 4H. R. 5333 (Introduced-in-House)govinfo.gov · primary source · cited for: context
- 5They cleaned up ground zero. Now many are hiding from ICE - KNPRknpr.org · not rated · cited for: contradicts, context
- 6New York lawmakers push to legalize undocumented 9/11 workersnbcnews.com · tier 2 · cited for: supports
- 720 Years Later, Undocumented Immigrants Who Aided 9/11 ...democracynow.org · not rated · cited for: supports, context
- 8They helped clean up the wreckage of 9/11. Now they face the threat ...latimes.com · not rated · cited for: supports
- 9Immigrant 9/11 Cleanup Crews Seek Residency as Reward for Work, Health Issues Sufferednbcnewyork.com · not rated · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
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