Pallone Demands Trump Admin Restore Staff to 9/11 Health Program After They Were Reassigned to ICE

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06), the top Democrat on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, today blasted the Trump Administration after reports the Department of Health and Human Services would reassign staff at the World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP) to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and demanded any affected staff return to the WTCHP.

“These staff should never have been moved in the first place and should be restored to the World Trade Center Health Program. This is a monstrous betrayal, but Trump’s abandonment of 9/11 survivors and first responders is nothing new,” Pallone said. “I helped to create the World Trade Center Health Program because these survivors and first responders are some of our best examples of bravery, selflessness, and American excellence. Now their health care program is being torn apart to staff a rogue agency that tramples on American values and shoots our citizens in the street. The hardworking staff of the 9/11 health program shouldn’t be ripped away from the heroes they serve and forced to advance ICE’s inhumane and authoritarian immigration policies terrorizing our communities.”

The WTCHP provides monitoring and treatment to more than 145,000 responders and survivors across all 50 states. Pallone has repeatedly condemned the Trump Administration’s actions affecting the WTCHP’s ability to care for patients, including the firing of twenty percent of its employees.

Pallone sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on February 28, 2025, in strong opposition to the layoffs. The Trump Administration then reversed course and restored personnel who had been fired. Pallone also secured additional long-term funding for WTCHP to continue until at least 2040.

Pallone continued to demand accountability from Secretary Kennedy at the June 24, 2025, hearing at the Energy and Commerce Committee, warning that the staff upheaval and halting of certifications would break America’s commitment to sick responders and survivors. On the 24th anniversary of the attacks, Pallone once again demanded answers and blasted the Administration’s continued silence.

“I fought to keep the World Trade Center Health Program intact and funded, and the Trump Administration should use that money to hire up to its full capacity and bring back those who were reassigned to ICE. These survivors deserve nothing less,” Pallone said.

Pallone has been a tireless advocate for 9/11 survivors and first responders, being instrumental in passing the bipartisan James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010 establishing the WTCHP.