Approximately 3,000 undocumented workers helped with the clean-up efforts after the attacks of September 11, 2001. Colombian-born Jamaica residents Nayibe Padredino and her sister – who is documented – went down to Ground Zero. Padredino was 62 years old at the time.
Nayibe Padredino
“I began to work at Ground Zero on September 17 and worked for a subcontractor. We had to clean dust and debris from inside a library for a month. The library was located diagonally from the World Trade Center on Broadway and Vesey in front of a church.
“We would walk out, and it was still burning. I saw the truck with all the bodies. And we would go and eat there. We ate poison.
“We would leave the building and there were still flames. And there were firefighters.
“There it burned, and they poured water over the smoke. We were breathing the smoke, but how were we to know that we were getting contaminated?
“We never got any protection. The paper facemasks we got were disposable. We would first pass the vacuum and then clean with the washcloths. Three floors we cleaned. There were several of us, a group of 30 men and women.
“We weren’t afraid of getting sick because the Mayor said that there was no contamination, so then we stayed calm.
“We never thought we’d get sick.
“Within two months I started coughing, but I thought that was normal. I was tired and my head hurt. I went to the doctor in 2002 and then I became aware that I had asthma.
“The doctor took x-rays of my back and found that I had a distorted back (I had to clean in very narrow areas).
“I got paid $60 per turn in cash, and we worked eight hours a day.
“I never registered with the World Trade Center Health registry because I went to a medical center. I have bronchitis, asthma, nasal drip, sneezing.
“I haven’t been able to return to work because my body won’t take it. I get too tired.
“Now I can’t sweep. I don’t feel like doing anything.
“My son helps me. I have little economic resources. We pay $900 in rent. My sister is a resident and the little government help she gets helps.
“If we were [all] documented, we’d have less fear of talking …
“Would I go back and work there? I wouldn’t say no because in a tragedy everyone must collaborate if one is in good health, but I don’t have the same health as before.
