美国国家公共电台 NPR Special Immigrant Visa Holders Still Face Questioning Upon Reaching U.S.

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The courts have put President Trump¹'s travel ban on hold. But the law still gives federal immigration officers broad discretion² to turn away foreigners. Immigrants with special visas from Iraq and Afghanistan are also having trouble getting past border agents. These are people who worked for the United States in their own countries, often at great risk. Here's NPR's Joel Rose.

JOEL ROSE, BYLINE³: As an economist⁴, Hussein Mahrammi helped U.S. development authorities in Kabul rebuild his war-torn country. He planned to stay in Afghanistan. Then, one by one, his colleagues were assaulted and even killed because they worked with Americans.

HUSSEIN MAHRAMMI: We really feel afraid.

ROSE: So Mahrammi applied⁵ for a special immigrant visa, or SIV. It was created specifically for people who worked with the U.S. government or contractors⁶ in Iraq and Afghanistan at great risk to themselves.

MAHRAMMI: I was expecting or dreaming that they welcome in the way that - maybe through some separate line, offering us tea and welcome us. But it was not like that really.

ROSE: Needless to say, there was no tea when Mahrammi, his wife and four young sons arrived at Dulles Airport in Virginia earlier this month. Officers from U.S. Customs and Border Protection pulled Mahrammi aside and started asking a lot of questions. Finally, after five hours, they were allowed in. But his case could have gone very differently. That same week, another SIV holder⁷ from Afghanistan landed at the airport in Newark, N.J.

ALEXANDER SHALOM: Once he arrived, he was put into detention⁸, questioned without a lawyer, forced to sign papers that he didn't want to sign.

ROSE: Alexander Shalom is with the ACLU of New Jersey⁹. He's representing the man known in court papers only as John Doe to protect his privacy. Hours before the man was set to be deported¹⁰, his lawyers raced to court. One federal judge ruled against them, so they asked for an emergency hearing before the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals.

SHALOM: The government was planning to put him back on a plane until we got the 3rd Circuit to prevent them from doing that.

ROSE: That man is still in detention. Federal authorities have yet to tell the ACLU why they won't let him into the country. Also this month in Los Angeles, officers detained a family of five traveling on a special immigrant visa. They were eventually released but only after an emergency court order. Attorney Rob Blume represents the family.

ROBERT BLUME: What seems to be going on is there's a tremendous amount of discretion being given to these CBP agents without much guidance.

ROSE: A Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman declined to comment on individual cases. The Trump administration is making it tougher to get visas from certain parts of the world and vowed¹¹ to ramp¹² up screening of people entering the U.S. But immigrant rights groups say officers with Customs and Border Protection have become too aggressive at airports and border crossings. Becca Heller directs the International Refugee Assistance Project. She's trying to document cases of people attempting to enter the U.S. legally and being turned away for no good reason.

BECCA HELLER: I would assume that there are dozens, if not hundreds, more cases that nobody ever finds out about.

ROSE: Heller says she couldn't find a single example of special visa holders¹³ being detained or deported by CBP officers until this month.

HELLER: It just begs the question of whether what they're doing is based on actual actionable intelligence or just on the fact that they are sort of running amok right now.

DAVID AGUILAR: What it tells me is that Customs and Border Protection is doing what they have been charged with doing.

ROSE: David Aguilar is a former acting¹⁴ commissioner¹⁵ of CBP. He says a visa alone doesn't guarantee entry to the U.S. The law specifies¹⁶ 60 different grounds for a Border Protection officer to reject someone. Aguilar says those officers are even trained to look at body language.

AGUILAR: If the officer believes that the individual is nervous, is invasive - eye contact is not there or the line of questioning just does not match up with the answers - if they are not allowing immediate¹⁷ entry into the United States, there is a reason for it. There has to be a reason for it.

ROSE: Immigration advocates say it's not easy to get a special immigrant visa. The process involves extensive background checks by the Departments of State and Homeland Security. In the case of Hussein Mahrammi, it took two years.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: (Laughter).

MAHRAMMI: That - is going to be my room. And then there will be another for kids' room. A week after landing in the U.S., Mahrammi and his family still don't have any furniture at their apartment in Maryland, so they're sleeping on the rugs they brought with them from Kabul. Mahrammi isn't complaining. If his family had to go back to Afghanistan now, he says, they'd become targets.

MAHRAMMI: This time, much in danger because we will be clear and distinguished¹⁸ target afterward¹⁹.

ROSE: Mahrammi says he's grateful to be in the U.S. where his family doesn't have to live in hiding anymore.

Joel Rose, NPR News.

1 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。

2 discretion   

n.谨慎；随意处理

参考例句：

• You must show discretion in choosing your friend.你择友时必须慎重。
• Please use your best discretion to handle the matter.请慎重处理此事。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

5 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

6 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 holder   

n.持有者，占有者；(台，架等)支持物

参考例句：

• The holder of the office of chairman is reponsible for arranging meetings.担任主席职位的人负责安排会议。
• That runner is the holder of the world record for the hundred-yard dash.那位运动员是一百码赛跑世界纪录的保持者。

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 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

10 deported   

v.将…驱逐出境( deport的过去式和过去分词 )；举止

参考例句：

• They stripped me of my citizenship and deported me. 他们剥夺我的公民资格，将我驱逐出境。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The convicts were deported to a deserted island. 罪犯们被流放到一个荒岛。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

12 ramp   

n.暴怒，斜坡，坡道；vi.作恐吓姿势，暴怒，加速；vt.加速

参考例句：

• That driver drove the car up the ramp.那司机将车开上了斜坡。
• The factory don't have that capacity to ramp up.这家工厂没有能力加速生产。

13 holders   

支持物( holder的名词复数 )； 持有者； （支票等）持有人； 支托（或握持）…之物

参考例句：

• Slaves were mercilessly ground down by slave holders. 奴隶受奴隶主的残酷压迫。
• It is recognition of compassion's part that leads the up-holders of capital punishment to accuse the abolitionists of sentimentality in being more sorry for the murderer than for his victim. 正是对怜悯的作用有了认识，才使得死刑的提倡者指控主张废除死刑的人感情用事，同情谋杀犯胜过同情受害者。

14 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

15 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

16 specifies   

v.指定( specify的第三人称单数 )；详述；提出…的条件；使具有特性

参考例句：

• The third clause of the contract specifies steel sashes for the windows. 合同的第三款指定使用钢窗。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The contract specifies red tiles, not slates, for the roof. 合同规定屋顶用红瓦，并非石板瓦。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

17 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

18 distinguished   

adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的

参考例句：

• Elephants are distinguished from other animals by their long noses.大象以其长长的鼻子显示出与其他动物的不同。
• A banquet was given in honor of the distinguished guests.宴会是为了向贵宾们致敬而举行的。

19 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。