(Queens, NY) - Congressman Joe Crowley (D-Queens, the Bronx) launched a nationwide petition today to urge President Donald Trump and Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly to stop deportation efforts against a 9/11 cleanup worker from Queens. The petition also calls upon President Trump to reverse course on his administration's anti-immigrant agenda and work with lawmakers, community leaders, and immigrants to push for immigration reform.

 

Carlos Humberto Cardona fled violence in Colombia nearly three decades ago, according to reports, and has been living in the United States with his wife, a U.S. citizen, since. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. immigration officials previously determined Mr. Cardona was not an immediate priority for deportation. But he’s now being held at the Hudson County Correctional Facility in New Jersey, awaiting likely deportation to Colombia. 

 

"Mr. Cardona is facing the threat of deportation because of President Donald Trump's anti-immigrant agenda. Instead of expressing our gratitude as a nation that Mr. Cardona helped clean and contain the World Trade Center site, our government is doing everything it can to deport a man who is facing serious health problems because of the work he did on our behalf. This is shameful," Congressman Crowley said. 

 

Congressman Crowley's office has been working with representatives for Mr. Cardona , but national attention is needed to highlight this tragic case and pressure the Trump administration. Despite Governor Andrew Cuomo granting Mr. Cardona clemency for a decades-old minor drug offense, effectively clearing any criminal record and making clear that Mr. Cardona should be allowed to stay in the U.S., there is still a risk that the Trump administration proceed with deportation. 

 

"This issue is larger than just Mr. Cardona. This is about expressing our sense, as a nation, that we do not and cannot accept President Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies as our own," Congressman Crowley wrote in the petition. "Deporting Mr. Cardona would send a message to the immigrants who call our country home that even if they serve our country during its darkest days, we will not welcome them in our communities."

 

Read the full petition.