VOA慢速英语--美国开始大规模驱逐得克萨斯州的海地移民

US Government Officials Expel¹ Haitian Migrants from Texas

The United States is flying Haitians who entered the country without permission back to their homeland. The Haitians have set up a camp in a Texas town near the U.S. border. The operation appears to be the beginning of what could be the country's largest expulsion of migrants or refugees² in many years.

U.S. officials are seeking to expel many of the more than 12,000 migrants who have camped around a bridge in Del Rio, Texas. They entered the United States after crossing the Rio Grande River from Ciudad Acuña, Mexico.

More than 320 migrants arrived in Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital, on three flights on Sunday. Haiti said six flights were expected Tuesday. The U.S. plans to begin seven expulsion flights each day on Wednesday, said a U.S. official who was not permitted to discuss the situation publicly. Flights will continue to depart from San Antonio. Officials may add El Paso, the official said.

Large numbers of Mexicans have also been sent home during years of high migration³, but they were sent over land and not so quickly.

When the border was closed Sunday, the migrants found other ways to cross nearby until they were met by federal and state law enforcement. An Associated Press reporter saw Haitian migrants still crossing the river into the U.S. about 2.4 kilometers east of the earlier place. After a time, they were stopped by Border Patrol⁴ agents riding horses and Texas law enforcement officials.

Agents shouted at the migrants who were crossing the river to get out of the water. The several hundred who had successfully crossed sat on the U.S. side of the river. They were ordered to the camp in Del Rio. Mexican officials in a boat told others trying to cross to go back into Mexico.

Migrant Charlie Jean had crossed back into Mexico from the camps to get food for his wife and children.

"We need food for every day. I can go without, but my kids can't," said Jean. He had been living in Chile for five years before beginning the trip north to the U.S. It was unknown if he made it back across and to the camp.

Mexico said Sunday it would also begin returning Haitians to their homeland. A government official said the flights would be from towns near the U.S. border and the border with Guatemala, where the largest group remains⁵.

Some of the migrants at the Del Rio camp said the killing⁶ of President Jovenel Moïse make them afraid to return to the country.

"In Haiti, there is no security," said Fabricio Jean, a 38-year-old Haitian who arrived in Texas with his wife and two daughters.

Since Friday, 3,300 migrants have already been removed from the Del Rio camp. They have been taken to airplanes or detention⁷ centers, Border Patrol Chief Raul L. Ortiz said Sunday. He expected to have 3,000 of the nearly 12,600 remaining migrants removed within a day, and aimed for the rest to be gone within the week.

Ortiz said the Border Patrol was working "around the clock." He added that the service would "remove individuals from the United States consistent⁸ with our laws and our policies." He spoke⁹ at a press conference at the Del Rio bridge.

The fast expulsion of the Haitians is being carried out under rules related to the coronavirus health crisis¹⁰. They were put in place during the administration of former President Donald Trump¹¹ in March 2020. The rules permit immigrants entering the country without permission to be quickly removed from the U.S. without a chance to ask for asylum¹². President Joe Biden let the order stand, except for children found alone.

In Haiti, those arriving on the first flight lined up to receive food as they wondered where they would sleep that night.

All were given $100 and tested for COVID-19, although officials were not planning to put them into quarantine, said an official with the Office of National Migration.

Some migrants said they were planning to leave Haiti again as soon as possible. Twenty-nine-year-old Valeria Ternission said she and her husband want to travel with their four-year-old son back to Chile, where she had a job.

"I am truly worried, especially for the child," she said. "I can't do anything here."

Words in This Story

migrant –n. a person who goes from one place to another especially to find work

quarantine – n. the period of time during which a person or animal that has a disease or that might have a disease is kept away from others to prevent the disease from spreading

1 expel   

vt.把...开除，驱逐，放逐，排出，喷出

参考例句：

• They were told at first that they should simply expel the refugees.一开始有人告诉他们应该直接将那些难民驱逐出境。
• The headmaster may expel the boy from the school.校长可能要把那个男孩从学校开除。

2 refugees   

n.避难者，难民( refugee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The UN has begun making airdrops of food to refugees. 联合国已开始向难民空投食物。
• They claimed they were political refugees and not economic migrants. 他们宣称自己是政治难民，不是经济移民。

3 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

4 patrol   

v.巡逻，巡查；n.巡逻，巡查，巡逻队

参考例句：

• They attacked two soldiers on patrol.他们袭击了两名正在巡逻的士兵。
• Policemen patrol the streets.警察在街上巡逻。

5 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。

6 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

7 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。

8 consistent   

adj.坚持的，一贯的，一致的，符合的

参考例句：

• He has been a consistent friend to the Chinese people.他是中国人民始终如一的朋友。
• His action is always consistent with his words.他始终言行一致。

9 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

10 crisis   

n.危机，危急关头，决定性时刻，关键阶段

参考例句：

• He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明，在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
• The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。

11 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。

12 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。