It has been a quarter-century since America was irrevocably altered when hijackers crashed American Airlines Flight 11 into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City at 8:46 a.m. EDT on Sept. 11, 2001.
Seventeen minutes later, another group of hijackers crashed United Airlines Flight 175 into the South Tower. Thirty-four minutes after that, hijackers crashed American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon.
In all, 2,977 victims were killed in the Sept. 11 attacks, which we recognize as 9/11. Thousands more were injured in New York, at the Pentagon and in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, where passengers aboard United Airlines Flight 93 fought back against hijackers before the plane crashed.
The effects of that fateful day continue
to echo into the present, extending far beyond changes to air travel and the reality of Transportation Security Administration screenings at airports.
The national response reshaped policy and security
Since then, the United States has shifted policies and laws in an effort to prevent another attack like 9/11 on American soil. In the aftermath, the nation launched wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. President George W. Bush later signed the Homeland Security Act of 2002, establishing the Department of Homeland Security and dissolving the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.
When DHS took over immigration enforcement and assumed former INS responsibilities, including granting U.S. citizenship and work authorizations, critics argued it reinforced a security-first approach to immigration policy.
“Under DHS, the primary goal was to prevent potentially dangerous individuals from obtaining benefits rather than ensuring that qualified individuals obtained benefits in a timely fashion,” Walter Ewing wrote for the American Immigration Council.
Ewing argues that the effort to prevent another 9/11 has shaped immigration policy ever since.
We want to hear from you
But we want to hear from you. In the 25 years since 9/11, has America changed for the better, for the worse or both? Take our poll.
Tacuma R. Roeback is The Tennessean’s community engagement and opinion editor. Reach him at troeback@gannett.com or follow him onX,Bluesky orLinkedIn.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Did 9/11 change America for better or worse? Take our poll
