USA: BRITISH WIDOW OF MAN KILLED IN WORLD TRADE CENTER DISASTER PERMITTED TO STAY BY IMMIGRATION OFFICIALS

Record ID: 771184

  • Title: USA: BRITISH WIDOW OF MAN KILLED IN WORLD TRADE CENTER DISASTER PERMITTED TO STAY BY IMMIGRATION OFFICIALS
  • Date: 12th November 2001
  • Summary: CHATHAM, NEW JERSEY (OCTOBER 10, 2001) (REUTERS) SCU WIDOW DEENA GILBEY LOOKING AT PICTURES IN HER WEDDING ALBUM (6 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 27th November 2001 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK; UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Conflict,Disasters,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAEDIAPF6HMRT2Q9NZY4S2MIVDS
  • Story Text: A British woman who feared deportation after her husband died in the September 11 World Trade Center attacks will be allowed to remain in the United States, a U.S.
    Immigration and Naturalization Service official confirmed.
    When Deena Gilbey of Essex, England lost her husband, Paul, in the attacks on the World Trade Center, she found herself filling tragic roles she had never imagined.
    The Chatham Township woman was a widow at age 39 with two young sons, Max, seven, and Mason, three. And two days after the attacks, she discovered she could be an illegal alien.
    Paul Gilbey, 39, was a money trader with Euro Bank on the 84th floor of the South Tower. "They were actually helping women and wheelchair people into express elevators. Now a lot of people were very afraid. A lot of men were very afraid, especially those that were in the '93 bombing, and they were trying to get into the elevator and Paul and Woody were joking saying things like "You're too ugly, you can't come in." because that is the kind of guys they were, fun guys. Take the stairs and let the ladies in and when the elevator was full they sent the elevator down and all those people got out,"
    said the saddened widow.
    Like his wife, a British national, Paul was in the United States on a long-term work visa for specialised workers, known as an H1-B. His visa also gave his wife permission to live, but not work, in the United States.
    Gilbey said that when she phoned the Immigration and Naturalization Service a few days after the attack, an INS case worker curtly told her the visa was no longer valid once Paul died. She said she was told she would have to leave the country or face possible deportation. The couple had been in the U.S. for eight years.
    The couple's children were born in New Jersey and are therefore U.S. citizens. Last month, Max entered the first grade at Southern Boulevard School in Chatham. Gilbey said she does not want to uproot the children now, especially when they still ask every day when their father is coming home.
    Gilbey told Reuters that she had been informed that a green card was not sufficient and that she was "hopeful" for U.S. citizenship. "I think the green card situation isn't really going to be a problem. In a practical sense, it really is not that much help to me at this point. My children are so small and so fragile, it is not as if I can get a full time job. That really is not going to be the answer at this point.
    They have lost there Dad. They need me more than ever. I am alone here in this country. I do have however, wonderful friends and support from my community here. But never the less, my boys are not in a position, or a emotional position to work full time."
    INS spokesman Russ Bergeron said that since meeting with her on September 27, officials had been working to help Gilbey attain residency.
    "The misinformation" Gilbey received was "very regrettable given the tragedy and trauma she has gone through," Bergeron said. "Clearly she has suffered a terrible loss. We will do everything we can to help her, and we have compassion for her situation. It has never been our intention to deport her."
    Bergeron said the INS has had a standing policy of offering help to victims' families who have immigration problems.
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