移民试图越境后,墨西哥加强了边境安全

Mexico Increases Border Security after Migrants Attempt to Cross

Mexico has begun taking steps to increase security near its border with the United States.

Mexican officials announced Sunday that police arrested 39 people after a peaceful march turned violent. The march was called to protest long processing delays for immigrants seeking asylum¹ in the United States.

The violence began when a group of migrants broke away from the protesters and attempted to cross the border. U.S. border agents reacted by firing tear gas into Mexico.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Customs and Border Patrol agents were struck by objects thrown by members of the group. The agency said that officers decided² to use the tear gas “because of the risk to agents’ safety.”

Mexico’s Interior Ministry³ said that officials were able to contain a group of about 500 people who “violently” tried to cross the border. The ministry said that those found to have taken part in the violence would be expelled immediately.

About 5,000 Central American migrants have been staying at a sports center in Tijuana for more than a week. Many are from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Most say they are trying to escape poverty and violence in their homelands.

After the violence, Lurbin Sarmiento of Honduras walked back to the sports center with her four-year-old daughter. Sarmiento said she had been near the bottom of the Tijuana River when U.S. agents fired tear gas.

She told the Associated Press, “We ran, but the smoke always reached us and my daughter was choking.”

She said she never would have gotten that close with her daughter if she thought there would be tear gas.

The wind carried some of the gas toward hundreds of migrants after some tried to get through the wire and fencing separating the two countries. U.S. officials closed the border crossing at San Ysidro for several hours at the end of last week.

On Friday, Tijuana Mayor Juan Manuel Gastelum declared a humanitarian⁴ crisis in his city, which is home to 1.6 million people. He said that Tijuana is struggling to shelter the large number of migrants.

Irineo Mujica has traveled with the migrants for weeks as a representative of the aid group Pueblo⁵ Sin Fronteras. He said the aim of Sunday’s march was to make the migrants’ suffering more visible to U.S. and Mexican officials.

“We can’t have all these people here,” he said.

On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump⁶ expressed his displeasure with the group of migrants who traveled through Mexico to the border. He also made new arguments for his promised border wall.

He wrote on Twitter, “Mexico should move the flag waving Migrants, many of whom are stone cold criminals, back to their countries. Do it by plane, do it by bus, do it anyway you want, but they are NOT coming into the U.S.A. We will close the Border permanently⁷ if need be. Congress, fund the WALL!”

Trump has repeatedly suggested without evidence that the group of migrants is filled with criminals. But The Associated Press reports that many are poor people with few belongings⁸ who have fled violence in their home countries. During his presidential election campaign, Trump promised he would have Mexico pay for the wall.

Mexico’s Interior Ministry reported on Sunday that the country has sent 11,000 Central Americans back to their countries since October 19. That was when the first of the two recent large migrant groups entered the country.

Mexico will likely send a total of around 100,000 Central Americans back home by the end of this year.

Words in This Story

choking – v. becoming unable to breathe usually because something gets stuck in your throat or because the air is not good for breathing

visible – adj. known to or noticed by the public

stone cold – adj. completely or totally

fund – v. to provide money for something

1 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

4 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

5 pueblo   

n.（美国西南部或墨西哥等）印第安人的村庄

参考例句：

• For over 2,000 years,Pueblo peoples occupied a vast region of the south-western United States.在长达2，000多年的时间里，印第安人统治着现在美国西南部的大片土地。
• The cross memorializes the Spanish victims of the 1680 revolt,when the region's Pueblo Indians rose up in violent protest against their mistreatment and burned the cit

6 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

7 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

8 belongings   

n.私人物品，私人财物

参考例句：

• I put a few personal belongings in a bag.我把几件私人物品装进包中。
• Your personal belongings are not dutiable.个人物品不用纳税。