Families Of Undocumented Immigrants Lost On 9/11 Continue To Search For Closure

https://www.npr.org/2021/09/10/ [login to see] /families-of-undocumented-immigrants-lost-on-9-11-continue-to-search-for-closure
For a brief moment, on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Teresa Garcia thought she'd seen a ghost.

She was in her office in midtown Manhattan, watching the news of the attacks on the World Trade Center, when he walked in.

"He was covered with dust. All white dust. And we couldn't even recognize him," Garcia says, recalling that day. "But he talked to my coworker and he said 'Esperanza.' And she said, 'Chino, is that you?' "

Garcia works at Asociacion Tepeyac de New York, a non-profit that assists mostly Latino immigrants with English language skills, legal aid and tax assistance.

The man who walked in, Chino, was an undocumented immigrant. Garcia is using only nickname to protect his identity. He had been heading over to start his shift at a restaurant at one of the towers, when the first plane hit. In shock, he made his way to Asociacion Tepeyac, to see Garcia and her colleague Esperanza Chacon.

"He came over to her (Esperanza)," Garcias says, "and he embraced her, and they started crying."