Steps Set for Kin of 9/11 Victims to Stay in U.S.
By JULIA PRESTON
Published: April 25, 2008

Federal officials on Thursday opened a path to temporary legal status for illegal immigrants whose spouses or parents died on 9/11, a step the families’ supporters called a breakthrough in the effort to allow them to remain permanently in the United States.

Lawyers for the immigrants said a concession by Homeland Security officials would help to bring the family members out of the shadows. They also said the measure should help clear a political logjam that has stalled bills in Congress that would grant the immigrants permanent legal status.

“For the first time there is a program for these widows and widowers and orphans to change from being undocumented to having a legal presence in the United States,â€