Undocumented immigrants have enough to worry about; imagine the problems of the undocumented Ground Zero workers.

"We are in the shadows," said Nayibe Padredino, 70, who lives with her son and sister, and has no source of income. "No one ever told us that we could not work."

With immigration reform postponed and a health reform that does not include them, the workers who cleaned up after the 9/11 attacks find themselves in limbo as they do not know who they can trust out of fear of deportation. This desperation and distrust sometimes makes them vulnerable to misinformation.

Padredino, a resident of Jamaica, who days after the 9/11 attacks began to clean, along with her sister and a group of 30 men and women – all undocumented – in Ground Zero, received only a paper face mask without a filter to clean the dust and filth that invaded the buildings inside and out.

After two months, she began to cough and feel tired, and in 2002, she developed asthma. That year she also began to see a psychologist for trauma.

Fortunately, she and hundreds of undocumented immigrants suffering from the illnesses that have emerged due to the toxins and chemicals that contaminated the area have been able to access the monitoring and treatment programs in Mt. Sinai, Elmhurst and Bellevue hospitals, among others.

Because they fell ill while working, they can receive compensation, which is assistance they sorely need.

However, some undocumented workers have not been able to prove that they were at Ground Zero because they were paid in cash, and they did not have to punch a card to record their hours.

In addition, it is frustrating for them because they have to wait for their doctors in the Mt. Sinai and Bellevue programs to certify that their illnesses are related to their work.

Some people have criticized their doctors, saying that they do not want to give them the certification, but according to a hospital spokesperson, when the doctors classify an illness as caused by work, they are doing so correctly.

And, the process to receive compensation can last between two and 10 years, adding stress to the critical situation of this community.

All of this leads many to misinformation.

Congress member Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), who has fought for years in favor of the 9/11 workers, asks undocumented 9/11 workers to wait a little until after the health reform process is over.

Maloney, who introduced a bill eight years ago to obtain permanent residence for the children and widows of the undocumented victims of 9/11, still has not been able to see that law passed.

"They were serving this country, and they deserve to have legal status," Maloney told El Correo. "There were some 16 people who lost their loved ones, and the resistance to this law has been incredible."

For now, Maloney says she will focus on getting the health reform passed, as well as the bill known as James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2009 to create a long-term payment mechanism, and reopen the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund to help these individuals.

It is not clear if the fund will cover the undocumented workers, but originally they were eligible.

Meanwhile, the undocumented workers, sick and penniless, continue to wait.

"I have not been able to work because my body cannot handle it," said Padredino, who sold tamales when she arrived in this country from her native Colombia. "If we were documented, we would be less afraid."