Immigrants in Limbo 5 Years After 9/11

Concrete is poured to begin construction on the 1776-foot Freedom Tower at the World Trade Center site in New York, Saturday, Nov. 18, 2006. (AP Photo/Jeff Zelevansky) (Jeff Zelevansky - AP)

The legislation could face some opposition.

Jack Martin, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said the families of undocumented immigrant victims of Sept. 11 are legitimate subjects of compassion, but he said they should not be treated any differently than those who lost a breadwinner as a result of any other accident.

"Those people have come into the country in violation of the laws," Martin said. "We don't think that the fact that they have suffered a loss of this type should be grounds for awarding them the permanent residence they would have tried to maintain illegally in this country, without that event having happened."

Martin said his organization has been focused on the overall immigration reform package rather than the amendment, but if it were to become a stand-alone bill the group would register its concern with lawmakers.

However, with only a few weeks left in the current Congress, even if the measure became a stand-alone bill it would not be taken up until the next Congress meets in the spring.

If the bill doesn't pass, the Ecuadorean widow and others will have to decide whether to return home or to continue to live here in fear of being deported. "This country became part of my life," she said.

The woman, whose husband worked at the Trade Center's Windows on the World restaurant, said she is fulfilling some of the dreams that she and her husband had for their family. Her son will graduate from a private high school next spring and is applying to colleges. They have their own apartment.

"But we are missing somebody," she said. "It's just the two of us. My husband is not with us."