VOA慢速英语--一个美国移民寻求庇护的漫长道路

One US Immigrant's Long Road to Asylum¹

People who request asylum after entering the United States illegally are much more likely to be denied than approved.

That information comes from the U.S. Department of Justice. Out of around 120,000 asylum requests by people who entered the country illegally in 2017, only about 7,000 were approved.

That makes Sergio very lucky. Sergio is a 64-year-old man from Mexico who asked to only be known by his first name. In Spanish, he told VOA his reasoning for coming to the U.S. “I came to the United States in 1992 because there was not a lot of work down there,” he said.

But under the “zero tolerance²” policy of the administration of President Donald Trump³, Sergio was targeted for deportation⁴. That happened after he was arrested for drunkenness in May of last year.

Asylum requests that are made after an illegal entry are called “defensive⁵ asylum” requests. They are handled by the Department of Justice. Asylum requests made by people who came to the U.S. legally are called “affirmative asylum” requests. They are handled by U.S. Citizenship⁶ and Immigration Services (USCIS).

The chances of being approved for defensive asylum got a little better in the first half of 2018. Requests fell to less than 86,000. But approvals remained around 7,000. The approval rate remains⁷ extremely low. Even for affirmative asylum requests in 2016, only 10 percent of more than 115,000 were approved.

Disagreement with guard

Sergio was moved to a jail in Orange County, near Los Angeles, where he says a guard insulted him early in his nine months there. Sergio said the guard accused him of being disrespectful and reminded him that he was prisoner.

“I said, ‘No, I’m not a prisoner,'” Sergio answered. “'I’m in detention⁸ for immigration. I haven’t committed any crimes.’”

He says his relationship with the guards got worse from there.

Joel Frost-Tift works for the Esperanza Immigrant Rights Project of Catholic Charities. He is Sergio’s lawyer and requested asylum for him. He said that Sergio suffered from mental illness.

"He did have some medical treatment in detention, but it was clearly very inadequate⁹. He ended up attempting suicide a month before he was released. So I think that's a sign that his medication wasn't right; he wasn't getting adequate care while he was detained.”

Getting asylum

A judge agreed with the lawyer that Sergio would not receive good care if he were sent back to Mexico. The judge approved asylum for Sergio on February 15.

But, Frost-Tift said, because the judge did not make a full written or spoken statement, there is no way to know his reasoning.

"Some judges have found that conditions in mental health institutions cause people to face a reasonable possibility of persecution¹⁰,” he said, “and in some cases even that they are more likely than not to be tortured."

Petitioners¹² for asylum must prove they have a "reasonable fear" of persecution in their home country. The United Nations defines reasonable fear as at least a 10 percent chance of persecution.

Asylum seekers must also officially request asylum within a year of their arrival in the U.S. Sergio did not do that.

"There are two exceptions to this rule," Frost-Tift explained.

First, the person can show changes to their situation which affect their right to asylum. Or, they must show that a highly unusual situation caused them to delay making their asylum request. He said that both of these things are true for people with mental illness.

Trump administration officials say asylum requests have risen sharply because many people are abusing a broken system.

Michael Bars is a spokesman for USCIS. In a written statement, he said that changes to the agency’s interview process have helped slow the large number of requests. But, he said, the current system is often abused and this prevents real asylum seekers from being processed in a timely way.

Sergio is still waiting for the government to send him a visa. He says he is pleased to have been given asylum, but also frustrated¹³. “I’m frustrated,” he said, “because I’m staying at a shelter.”

Free and living in a homeless center in central Los Angeles, Sergio's health has improved and he is ready to start his new life.

I’m Alice Bryant.

Words in This Story

lucky –adj. producing a good result by chance

tolerance –n. the willingness to accept feelings, habits or beliefs that are not you own

drunkenness –n. caused by drinking too much alcohol

petitioner¹¹ –n. a person who asks for a legal case to be decided¹⁴ by a court

persecution –n. to treat someone cruelly or unfairly especially because of race or religious or political beliefs

frustrated –adj. to be angry, discouraged or upset because of being unable to do or complete something

interview - n. a meeting at which people talk to each other in order to ask questions and get information

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 tolerance   

n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差

参考例句：

• Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
• Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。

3 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。

4 deportation   

n.驱逐，放逐

参考例句：

• The government issued a deportation order against the four men.政府发出了对那4名男子的驱逐令。
• Years ago convicted criminals in England could face deportation to Australia.很多年以前，英国已定罪的犯人可能被驱逐到澳大利亚。

5 defensive   

adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的

参考例句：

• Their questions about the money put her on the defensive.他们问到钱的问题，使她警觉起来。
• The Government hastily organized defensive measures against the raids.政府急忙布置了防卫措施抵御空袭。

6 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

7 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

8 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

9 inadequate   

adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的

参考例句：

• The supply is inadequate to meet the demand.供不应求。
• She was inadequate to the demands that were made on her.她还无力满足对她提出的各项要求。

10 persecution   

n. 迫害,烦扰

参考例句：

• He had fled from France at the time of the persecution. 他在大迫害时期逃离了法国。
• Their persecution only serves to arouse the opposition of the people. 他们的迫害只激起人民对他们的反抗。

11 petitioner   

n.请愿人

参考例句：

• The judge awarded the costs of the case to the petitioners.法官判定由这起案件的上诉人支付诉讼费用。
• The petitioner ask for a variation in her maintenance order.上诉人要求对她生活费的命令的条件进行变更。

12 petitioners   

n.请求人，请愿人( petitioner的名词复数 )；离婚案原告

参考例句：

• Petitioners suggest that anything less than certainty, that any speculation, is irresponsible. 申诉者认为不准确的事或推断都是不负责任的。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• The judge awarded the costs of the case to the petitioners. 法官判定由这起案件的上诉人支付诉讼费用。 来自辞典例句

13 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 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。