The Senate’s top Democrat joined a group of local Republican lawmakers seeking answers amid reports that 9/11 World Trade Center health fund program workers are being reassigned to other agencies, including U.S. Immigrations & Customs Enforcement.
“It would be bad enough if they just reduced the number. That would be horrible enough,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) told reporters Sunday in Midtown East. “But to put them into ICE, a renegade agency that’s out of control and desperately needs to be reined in and reformed is a double whammy on the people of New York and the people of America.”
On Thursday, Rep. Nick LaLota (R-Long Island) posted a letter he sent to Health & Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., co-signed by several of his GOP colleagues in the region.
“We also understand that program staff members who are Public Health Service Officers have been temporarily reassigned to immigration enforcement activities and the Indian Health Service, including the Deputy Director of the program,” LaLota’s letter stated.
It asks Kennedy for a briefing “on the steps the administration is taking to strengthen the World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP) and to address recent reports that operational challenges are limiting access to care for responders and survivors.”
The letter also says lawmakers are aware of 9/11 responders and survivors were denied enrollment in the program and have been waiting more than a year for appeals to be processed. “The heroes of 9/11 deserve the same dedication and responsiveness they showed nearly 25 years ago.”
In response to Schumer’s comments Sunday, the Dept. of Homeland Security said in a statement to NBC New York, “Senator Schumer’s claims that World Trade Center Health Program employees have been reassigned to assist in immigration enforcement are FALSE.” News 4 has asked DHS if 9/11 World Trade Center health workers are being used in any capacity — enforcement or otherwise — at ICE. There was no immediate response on Sunday evening. In his remarks Sunday and in a press release, neither Schumer or his staff mentioned an “enforcement” role, as Rep. LaLota had suggested in his letter to Secretary Kennedy.
According to LaLota’s office, The World Trade Center Health Program serves nearly 140,000 responders and survivors nationwide, with participants located in every state and in 434 of 435 congressional districts.
NBC New York has also reached out to The White House and the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services for comment.