WASHINGTON – Rep. George Santos, RN.Y., claimed his mother was in her office inside the World Trade Center during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, but records obtained by NBC News Wednesday show she was living in Brazil in the hour.
The immigration records, discovered through a Freedom of Information Act request by genealogical researcher Alex Calzareth and first reported by the washington postshow that Santos’ mother, Fátima Caruso Devolder, entered the US in April 2003 and had not been in the country since 1999. She lived in Rio de Janeiro.
Devolder last left New York in 1999 and claimed in 2001, when he was back in Brazil, that his green card had been stolen, records show. She later applied for her re-entry and was readmitted to the US in 2003, records show. Devolder indicated that she was unemployed or retired and that she planned to live in Woodside, New York, a neighborhood in Queens, according to documents obtained through a FOIA request.
But even though records show Devolder’s absence from the US from 1999 to 2003, Santos Congress campaign website reads: “George’s mother was in her office in the South Tower on September 11, 2001, when the horrific events of that day occurred. She survived the tragic events of 9/11, but passed away a few years later when she lost her battle with cancer.”
Santos’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
In 2021, when he was running for Congress, Santos claimed in a reply to a Twitter account that on 9/11 he took the life of his mother. His campaign website says his mother died a few years after the attacks; she died in 2016.
Calzareth, who is originally from Nassau County but not Santos’ congressional district, filed the FOIA requests on Santos’ mother in late December. He said he initially applied because he was interested in knowing if Devolder was in the United States in 1988, when Santos was born. Government records show that she was in the country from the mid-1980s until 1999.
Santos has lied about much of his background and resume, and is the subject of investigations at the state, local and federal levels. In an interview last month with the new york post officeapologized for aspects of his biography.
“I’m embarrassed and I’m sorry I embellished my resume,” he said, according to the newspaper. “I recognize that. … We do stupid things in life.”
Last week, The Hill reported that Santos told reporters“I have not done anything unethical.”
A growing number of Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill are calling for his resignation. But House Republicans gave him seats on two committees after pressure arose to prevent him from sitting on congressional panels.
Garrett Haake contributed.
