WTC staff reassigned to ICE: 9/11 advocates warn of longer wait times for people suffering from 9/11‑related illnesses
Thank you for choosing Automatic Translation. Currently we are offering translations from English into French and German, with more translation languages to be added in the near future. Please be aware that these translations are generated by a third party AI software service. While we have found that the translations are mostly correct, they may not be perfect in every case. To ensure the information you read is correct, please refer to the original article in English. If you find an error in a translation which you would like to bring to our attention, it would help us greatly if you let us know. We can correct any text or section, once we are aware of it. Please do not hesitate to contact our webmaster to let us know of any translation errors.
Federal reassignments inside the World Trade Center Health Program are worsening already‑severe delays in care for people suffering from 9/11‑related illnesses, according to advocates and members of Congress.
As reported by Firehouse.com and others, the program — responsible for certifying conditions and covering treatment for responders and survivors — has lost more than a quarter of its workforce and recently saw at least two additional staff members, including the deputy director, temporarily reassigned to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Indian Health Service. The transfers were disclosed in a letter from Rep. Nick LaLota (R‑N.Y.), who requested a formal briefing from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy.
LaLota and eight other Republican lawmakers from New York and New Jersey said the staffing losses “further exacerbate” shortages that have left patients with cancers, respiratory diseases, and other certified 9/11 conditions waiting months for appointments, approvals, and appeals. Advocates say those delays can carry life‑altering medical consequences for a population whose illnesses often progress quickly.
Mounting operational problems
The WTC Health Program is budgeted for 120 staff but currently employs only 84, leaving 36 vacancies. Medical providers working with the program have reported delayed or denied reimbursements, while some survivors have been denied enrollment and then left waiting more than a year for their appeals to be reviewed.
Petitions to add additional conditions — including autoimmune, cardiac, and cognitive disorders increasingly reported among 9/11‑exposed populations — have also stalled without public updates.
Benjamin Chevat, executive director of Citizens for the Extension of the James Zadroga Act, said the program has fewer staff today than when Kennedy took office. “In the year and a month Secretary Kennedy has been running HHS, he has fired, rehired, fired, rehired WTC program staff,” Chevat said, adding that Congress is right to demand answers on “staffing shortages, treatment delays, appeals backlogs, and provider reimbursement problems.”
A growing population with growing needs
Roughly 140,000 people are enrolled in the WTC Health Program, and advocates expect the number of sick survivors to rise by another 10,000 this year. Many illnesses linked to the toxic exposures of 9/11 — including cancers, pulmonary diseases, and chronic inflammatory conditions — continue to emerge decades after the attacks.
The program was created in 2011 under the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act and later extended through 2090 as the long‑term health impacts became clearer. Lawmakers from both parties intervened last year after Kennedy attempted to dismiss program head Dr. John Howard and cut research grants; the administration reversed those decisions following bipartisan pressure.
With the 25th anniversary of the attacks approaching, LaLota said the federal government must demonstrate its commitment to those who “ran toward danger on September 11th and its aftermath.”
Photo Credit: Illustration created by Microsoft Copilot from a prompt by Bjorn Ulfsson, CTIF.
Further Reading:
https://www.911healthwatch.org/?
https://fealgoodfoundation.com/?
https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/1786