A worker who helped remove hazardous material from ground zero in New York City is facing deportation over a 17-year-old removal order, the New York Daily News reported.

Carlos Humberto Cardona was reportedly taken into custody in February after being asked to check in with immigration authorities. He has had a removal order since May 2000 because of a 1990 attempted drug sale conviction, the Daily News reported.

Cardona’s attorney filed a legal action asking a federal judge to force the Department of Homeland Security and immigration offices to quickly decide on a 2014 application that verifies Cardona’s marriage to a naturalized citizen. Cardona also filed a clemency application with New York in April, according to the Daily News.

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Cardona arrived in the U.S. in 1986 when he was 17 to avoid political danger in Colombia, where his two brothers were killed by anti-government rebels, his wife told the Daily News.

Cardona helped to remove hazardous materials from ground zero and has health issues stemming from the work, including lung, gastrointestinal and psychological issues, the Daily News reported.

“He’s very much an American,” Rajesh Barua, Cardona’s attorney, told the Daily News. “He’s scared of going back to Colombia. He doesn’t know how he'll maintain a living and what kind of treatment he’ll have for respiratory problems, which are very real.”