“The man, Carlos Cardona, 48, entered the United States illegally by crossing the border with Mexico. He is a co-owner of a construction business in Queens, and he was a volunteer after the World Trade Center attacks, sifting through and clearing out the rubble at ground zero. The time he spent in the debris resulted in a severe lung condition from which he still suffers, his lawyer, Rajesh Barua, said. As a young man, according to Mr. Barua, Mr. Cardona briefly fell in with a rough crowd, and in 1990 he pleaded guilty to selling a small amount of cocaine to an undercover officer, a crime for which he spent 45 days in jail.”