美国国家公共电台 NPR Justice Department Sues California Over Impeding Immigration Enforcement

Justice Department Sues California Over Impeding¹ Immigration Enforcement

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

Late-breaking news out of California tonight - the U.S. Justice Department is suing the state and its top officials. The federal government says California is interfering² with federal immigration enforcement and violating the Constitution. Here with me to talk about the case is NPR justice correspondent Carrie Johnson. Hey, Carrie.

CARRIE JOHNSON, BYLINE³: Hey there.

KELLY: So no secret that Trump⁴ administration officials and California officials have been at odds⁵. What is this latest lawsuit⁶ about?

JOHNSON: The U.S. Justice Department is targeting three laws that California passed last year, in essence calling them a brazen⁷ interference with the federal government's sweeping⁸ power over immigration issues. One state law bars employers from voluntarily cooperating with federal immigration agents and forces them to notify employees in advance about any immigration raids. Another law covers state and local law enforcement. It says they're not able to volunteer information to the Department of Homeland Security or ICE agents about release dates of undocumented immigrants in their custody⁹. And the third law covers state inspections¹⁰ of those federal centers where detainees are held. The U.S. Justice Department says all three of those laws are an impermissible burden on federal authority.

KELLY: Well, what are the odds that the Justice Department will prevail here? I mean, fair to say that the Trump administration has a mixed record so far in federal court.

JOHNSON: Very much a mixed record, but the odds here may be pretty good. It's true the feds have a lot of power when it comes to immigration. An irony¹¹ alert - the Trump Justice Department is using a precedent¹² from the Obama administration (laughter) here.

KELLY: Aha, it all comes around.

JOHNSON: Yeah, it does. They're talking about a Supreme¹³ Court case from several years ago where the Obama Justice Department sued Arizona over some very punitive¹⁴ immigration laws that Arizona had passed. A divided Supreme Court voted 5 to 3 to invalidate some big parts of that Arizona law on the grounds that the federal government has supremacy¹⁵ here, that the feds trump state law. And the reasoning is that you can't have each state setting its own immigration policy. It's just unworkable.

KELLY: Well, and back to this case, which is the latest in a series of skirmishes really between California and Washington, specifically on immigration, I mean, what's the backdrop here?

JOHNSON: Yeah, the attorney general of California, Xavier Becerra, is already fighting with the attorney general of the United States, Jeff Sessions, over the Justice Department's threat to deny California access to federal law enforcement grants. The Justice Department says if you don't comply with federal law on immigration and share information about detainees, you shouldn't get law enforcement money from the federal government. And recently, Mary Louise, the mayor in Oakland, Calif., issued a warning to the immigrant community there that the feds were planning a big raid. That really angered the Department of Homeland Security, did not go over well at the Justice Department or the White House either.

KELLY: What about Attorney General Jeff Sessions? What kind of role is he playing in this case?

JOHNSON: Attorney General Jeff Sessions is no fan of immigration measures that allow more people to come to the U.S.

KELLY: Right.

JOHNSON: In fact, in the Senate, he was one of the biggest foes¹⁶ of immigration that existed back then. He's going to Sacramento on Wednesday to speak with a law enforcement group there. He's going to pledge to fight what he calls unjust, unfair and unconstitutional policies. Also speaking at that law enforcement conference is the attorney general of California, Xavier Becerra, who's no shrinking violet. So expect some big fireworks tomorrow.

KELLY: Carrie, thank you.

JOHNSON: My pleasure.

KELLY: That's NPR justice correspondent Carrie Johnson talking about this late-breaking news out of California. The Justice Department is suing the state and its top officials tonight.

1 impeding   

a.(尤指坏事)即将发生的，临近的

参考例句：

• Fallen rock is impeding the progress of rescue workers. 坠落的石头阻滞了救援人员的救援进程。
• Is there sufficient room for the kiosk and kiosk traffic without impeding other user traffic? 该环境下是否有足够的空间来摆放信息亭？信息亭是否会妨碍交通或者行走？ 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

2 interfering   

adj. 妨碍的 动词interfere的现在分词

参考例句：

• He's an interfering old busybody! 他老爱管闲事！
• I wish my mother would stop interfering and let me make my own decisions. 我希望我母亲不再干预，让我自己拿主意。

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 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。

5 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

6 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

7 brazen   

adj.厚脸皮的，无耻的，坚硬的

参考例句：

• The brazen woman laughed loudly at the judge who sentenced her.那无耻的女子冲着给她判刑的法官高声大笑。
• Some people prefer to brazen a thing out rather than admit defeat.有的人不愿承认失败，而是宁肯厚着脸皮干下去。

8 sweeping   

adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的

参考例句：

• The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
• Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗？

9 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

10 inspections   

n.检查( inspection的名词复数 )；检验；视察；检阅

参考例句：

• Regular inspections are carried out at the prison. 经常有人来视察这座监狱。
• Government inspections ensure a high degree of uniformity in the standard of service. 政府检查确保了在服务标准方面的高度一致。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 irony   

n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄

参考例句：

• She said to him with slight irony.她略带嘲讽地对他说。
• In her voice we could sense a certain tinge of irony.从她的声音里我们可以感到某种讥讽的意味。

12 precedent   

n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的

参考例句：

• Is there a precedent for what you want me to do?你要我做的事有前例可援吗？
• This is a wonderful achievement without precedent in Chinese history.这是中国历史上亘古未有的奇绩。

13 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

14 punitive   

adj.惩罚的，刑罚的

参考例句：

• They took punitive measures against the whole gang.他们对整帮人采取惩罚性措施。
• The punitive tariff was imposed to discourage tire imports from China.该惩罚性关税的征收是用以限制中国轮胎进口的措施。

15 supremacy   

n.至上；至高权力

参考例句：

• No one could challenge her supremacy in gymnastics.她是最优秀的体操运动员，无人能胜过她。
• Theoretically,she holds supremacy as the head of the state.从理论上说，她作为国家的最高元首拥有至高无上的权力。

16 foes   

敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They steadily pushed their foes before them. 他们不停地追击敌人。
• She had fought many battles, vanquished many foes. 她身经百战，挫败过很多对手。