Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) announced at a press conference in New Jersey on April 15 that the wife and four daughters of 9/11-victim Waqar Hasan are likely to be granted work authorization permits for another year from the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (formerly the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).
The permits will allow the five Hasan women to work and earn money as they wait for Holt’s bill to make its way through Congress, a press release by Holt’s office said. The Holt private relief bill, H.R. 867, is their last chance to stay in the United States. Private relief bills are passed by Congress in exceptional cases to benefit a particular individual or family. The Hasan family currently lives in Milltown, N.J.
The work authorization permits that the Hasans are expected to receive will help them to earn while they await movement on the bill.
“The Hasans are the type of industrious, freedom-loving people we want in this country and the type of immigrants who have always given our country strength,” Holt was quoted as saying in the release.
“I am asking my colleagues in Congress to grant the Hasan family the permanent residency they deserve. I am asking them to make good on the promise of America.”
Mark Anthony Stroman walked into Waqar Hasan’s convenience store in Dallas, Tex., in the night of Sept. 15, 2001, four days after 9/11, and shot the 46-year-old father of four in the face, the release said.
When asked by the police why he shot Waqar, Stroman expressed no remorse. “I did it to retaliate on local Arab Americans or whatever you want to call them,” he reportedly said. “I did what every American wanted to do but didn’t.” Stroman is now on death row.
“I believe that there is no more crucial time to demonstrate to Muslims in America and around the world that we are a tolerant and sympathetic people,” Holt was quoted as saying.
“We must seize opportunities to showcase America’s commitment to the democratic values that we are making great sacrifices to promote overseas. I believe that the Hasan family provides us with such an opportunity.”
Holt’s private relief bill has been referred to the House Immigration Subcommittee.
