9/11 Families Oppose Anti-Immigrant Provisions of 9/11 Legislation

9/11 Families Oppose Anti-Immigrant Provisions of 9/11 Legislation; Family Members Available for Discussion

12/2/2004 12:18:00 PM

To: National Desk, Political Reporter

Contact: September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, 212-598-0970, http://www.peacefultomorrows.org

News Advisory:

9/11 family members are available to discuss their objections to anti-immigrant and civil liberties provisions of the"9/11 Recommendations Implementation Act," currently seeking a vote when Congress returns Dec. 6:

TALAT HAMDANI, 917-579-5416, talat [at] peacefultomorrows.org

Hamdani is a Pakistani-American living in Queens, New York. Her son, Salman, was a NYC police cadet who disappeared on 9/11/01 and was wrongfully accused of participating in the attacks. When his body was identified at the WTC months later, it was believed that he had gone to the scene to provide help. Salman9s story was included in the text of the Patriot Act. Hamdani has since been active in immigrant issues arising from the 9/11 attacks and has been lobbying Congress against anti-immigrant provisions of HR10, the original House Resolution which spawned the compromise bill. She said, "Our loved ones9 sacrifices will not be in vain. They made the ultimate sacrifice for this land, and we will do whatever is required to uphold our Constitution and our way of life."

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ALISSA TORRES

Torres lives in Manhattan and lost her husband, Eduardo Torres, at the World Trade Center. She said, "My husband was a Columbian citizen. The people who died in the Towers came from all over the world. As an immigrant society, we do ourselves a disservice by introducing anti-immigrant legislation, particularly inside of a bill meant to make our nation safer by enacting the recommendations of the 9/11 commission."

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TERRY GREENE, 617-354-2808, tgreene [at] access-4-free.com

Green lives in Cambridge, MA and lost her brother, Donald Freeman Greene, on Flight 93. She said: ".Certainly we must prevent those who perpetrated this violence from launching any further attacks. At the same time, we must fight to preserve the American values of freedom and liberty for which our loved ones sacrificed their lives. In this spirit, I urge the removal of expansions to the Patriot Act and anti-immigrant provisions that promote isolation but do little for national security."

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LORETTA FILIPOV, 978-369-5993, Ljfilipov [at] aol.com

Filipov lives in Concord, MA and lost her husband, Alexander, on Flight 11. She said, "I grieve each time I hear of the death of another American soldier or innocent Iraqi. This country went to war in my husband's name; please don't compound my sorrow by including Patriot Act provisions or anti-immigration reforms into what should be a simple act of passing the 9/11 Commission9s recommendations."

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Hamdani, Torres, Greene and Filipov are members of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, a non-profit group of 150 family members of 9/11 victims, which has been twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. On Oct. 7, 2004, a statement from the group was read on the floor of the House of Representatives, which said in part, "While we have diverse political views on many issues, we write to you today in one voice to express our strong collective position that legislation to implement the 9-11 Commission recommendations not be used in a politically divisive manner."

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