SCHUMER SOUNDS ALARM: AS TRUMP STRIPS STAFF FROM 9/11 HEALTH PROGRAM AND REASSIGNS THEM TO ICE, SENATOR DEMANDS IMMEDIATE REVERSAL TO PROTECT 140,000 SURVIVORS

Schumer Says Reassigning 9/11 Health Program Staff To ICE Is A Disgrace And Betrayal Of First Responders Who Put Their Lives On The Line

Schumer Calls On Trump And Secretary Kennedy To Immediately Return All Reassigned Staff To The World Trade Center Health Program

Schumer: 9/11 Survivors Are Dying Of Cancer And Fighting To Breathe - Stripping Their Care To Staff ICE Is Callous, Senseless, And Cruel

NEW YORK, NY - U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer today called on President Trump and HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy to immediately reverse the reassignment of World Trade Center Health Program staff to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agencies, warning the moves are delaying care for the 140,000 survivors enrolled in the program. The World Trade Center Health Program, which covers medical expenses for those suffering from 9/11-related illnesses, is budgeted for 120 staffers but currently has only 84, a 25% drop in personnel. HHS has reassigned key officials, including those responsible for processing enrollments, handling appeals, and certifying treatments, to ICE.

"9/11 survivors are dying of cancer, fighting to breathe, and Trump is ripping away their care to staff ICE," said Senator Schumer. "It is a disgrace and a betrayal of our first responders. This will delay care and increase wait times for the 140,000 survivors in the program. President Trump and Secretary Kennedy must reverse these reassignments immediately."

The CDC remains in turmoil without a permanent Director, causing staff shortages that have direct consequences for survivors. At least three dozen enrollment applications are being denied and left without anyone to process the appeals, leaving those survivors unable to access care. Those already enrolled in the program are reporting delayed or denied reimbursements and have nowhere to turn. Meanwhile, the steering committees that guide the program have barely met since Secretary Kennedy took office, and the program has yet to issue determinations on pending petitions to add autoimmune, cardiac, and cognitive conditions to the list of covered 9/11 illnesses, despite indicating those decisions would be announced in March 2025.

Benjamin Chevat, Executive Director of Citizens for the Extension of the James Zadroga Act, called on Kennedy to take specific steps to address the crisis: "Secretary Kennedy needs to lift his staff hiring freeze and allow the World Trade Center Health Program to hire the additional staff it was supposed to hire to deal with the thousands of 9/11 responders and survivors who have come forward in recent years, and at the very least stop sending the remaining program staff on other assignments. Ensure that CDC is providing the support staff the program needs. Restart the program's annual research grant process that awards millions of dollars in research grants under the Zadroga statute that normally would have started last March but has been continually delayed. Finally, the program needs to issue determinations on the pending petitions to add autoimmune, cardiac and cognitive conditions to the list of covered conditions that the program said was going to be made last March but were never announced."

Schumer and Senator Gillibrand wrote to HHS on February 17, 2025, and August 5, 2025, to raise concerns about staffing and administrative issues at the program. HHS responded on February 6, 2026, writing that the department "remains committed to ensuring that 9/11 first responders and survivors in the WTC Health Program receive the critical health care services they need."

"You cannot claim to be committed to this program while gutting its staff and sending them to ICE," Schumer said. "RFK made a personal promise to me that he would protect this program. He has broken that promise repeatedly."

Earlier this year, after Schumer raised concerns about the cancellation of research grants and the firing of over a dozen program employees, Kennedy reversed course and acknowledged the firings were a mistake. In January 2026, Schumer and Gillibrand secured full funding for the program through 2040. The World Trade Center Health Program was established under the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act in 2011 and currently serves 140,000 survivors, with enrollment expected to grow by approximately 10,000 this year.

"This is the 25^th anniversary of 9/11. The promise was "never forget." This administration is breaking that promise," Schumer said. "I will not stop until every reassigned staff member is back where they belong, caring for the brave heroes who put their lives on the line."

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