美国国家公共电台 NPR Border Patrol Shooting Death Of Immigrant Woman Raises Tensions In South Texas

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The FBI and Texas Rangers¹ are investigating a shooting in South Texas. On Wednesday, a Border Patrol agent shot and killed a woman after she and a group of unauthorized immigrants attacked the agents with what were described as blunt objects. This has further inflamed² the tensions along the heavily patrolled Rio Grande. NPR's John Burnett has this story.

JOHN BURNETT, BYLINE³: The Border Patrol says the agent was alone trying to apprehend⁴ six undocumented immigrants midday Wednesday in the town of Rio Bravo near Laredo, Texas. The agency says when the officer came under attack, he fired at least one round from his service weapon and struck the woman in the head. Other agents arrived and performed emergency first aid on her, but she died at the scene. Three of the immigrants were arrested. Two fled across the river back to Mexico. A neighbor shot this video of the aftermath of the shooting and posted it online. You can hear her asking the officers why they killed the woman.

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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Speaking Spanish).

BURNETT: Hector Garza is a spokesman for the Border Patrol union in the Laredo sector⁵. It includes Rio Bravo, a sliver⁶ of a town whose main street halts at the bank of the sluggish⁷ Rio Grande.

HECTOR GARZA: This part of the border is very active for human and drug smuggling⁸ activities. And an agent that's working in that area can very routinely see anywhere from 30 to 50 illegal aliens attempting to make entry during a single shift.

BURNETT: Immigrant advocates along the southern divide say that with President Trump's intense focus on border security federal immigration agents have gotten more aggressive. Then last month, the president announced he was deploying⁹ the National Guard to the border to help agents stop illegal entries. The fatal shooting of an immigrant woman is upsetting local residents who question whether the area should be further militarized.

KARINA ALVAREZ: We don't need any more protection. We're safe.

BURNETT: Karina Alvarez is founder¹⁰ of the Laredo Immigrant Alliance. She says her community worries whether the investigation¹¹ will be objective.

ALVAREZ: Our community really is in fear. We really think that there should be accountability over this Border Patrol agent.

BURNETT: This has been an issue before. Concerned over a rash of deadly shootings by its agents, Customs and Border Protection, or CBP, initiated¹² training that stress the use of nonlethal force. The agency says shooting incidents dropped nearly 70 percent from 2012 to 2017. But in the first six months of this fiscal¹³ year, agents used their guns nine times - more than twice as much - as at the same period a year earlier.

Administration officials say that's because assaults on agents have spiked¹⁴. Yet critics say the agency is playing with the numbers. In one incident in the Rio Grande Valley last year, six people threw rocks bottles and branches at seven agents. By the Border Patrol's tally¹⁵, that added up to 126 separate assaults. The Intercept¹⁶ website accused the agency of exaggerating the dangers out there. When asked about that, Carry Huffman, chief of strategic planning at CBP, put it this way.

CARRY HUFFMAN: If you had to dodge¹⁷ 126 different projectiles¹⁸ at you, you might think differently. Would you not?

BURNETT: The agent who was involved in the Rio Bravo shooting, who was not identified, has been put on administrative¹⁹ leave during the investigation.

John Burnett, NPR News, Austin.

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1 rangers   

护林者( ranger的名词复数 )； 突击队员

参考例句：

• Do you know where the Rangers Stadium is? 你知道Rangers体育场在哪吗？ 来自超越目标英语 第3册
• Now I'm a Rangers' fan, so I like to be near the stadium. 现在我是Rangers的爱好者，所以我想离体育场近一点。 来自超越目标英语 第3册

2 inflamed   

adj.发炎的，红肿的v.（使）变红，发怒，过热( inflame的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• His comments have inflamed teachers all over the country. 他的评论激怒了全国教师。
• Her joints are severely inflamed. 她的关节严重发炎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

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 apprehend   

vt.理解，领悟，逮捕，拘捕，忧虑

参考例句：

• I apprehend no worsening of the situation.我不担心局势会恶化。
• Police have not apprehended her killer.警察还未抓获谋杀她的凶手。

5 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

6 sliver   

n.裂片，细片，梳毛；v.纵切，切成长片，剖开

参考例句：

• There was only one sliver of light in the darkness.黑暗中只有一点零星的光亮。
• Then,one night,Monica saw a thin sliver of the moon reappear.之后的一天晚上，莫尼卡看到了一个月牙。

7 sluggish   

adj.懒惰的，迟钝的，无精打采的

参考例句：

• This humid heat makes you feel rather sluggish.这种湿热的天气使人感到懒洋洋的。
• Circulation is much more sluggish in the feet than in the hands.脚部的循环比手部的循环缓慢得多。

8 smuggling   

n.走私

参考例句：

• Some claimed that the docker's union fronted for the smuggling ring.某些人声称码头工人工会是走私集团的掩护所。
• The evidence pointed to the existence of an international smuggling network.证据表明很可能有一个国际走私网络存在。

9 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

10 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

11 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

12 initiated   

n. 创始人 adj. 新加入的 vt. 开始，创始，启蒙，介绍加入

参考例句：

• He has not yet been thoroughly initiated into the mysteries of computers. 他对计算机的奥秘尚未入门。
• The artist initiated the girl into the art world in France. 这个艺术家介绍这个女孩加入巴黎艺术界。

13 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

14 spiked   

adj.有穗的；成锥形的；有尖顶的

参考例句：

• The editor spiked the story. 编辑删去了这篇报道。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They wondered whether their drinks had been spiked. 他们有些疑惑自己的饮料里是否被偷偷搀了烈性酒。 来自辞典例句

15 tally   

n.计数器，记分，一致，测量；vt.计算，记录，使一致；vi.计算，记分，一致

参考例句：

• Don't forget to keep a careful tally of what you spend.别忘了仔细记下你的开支账目。
• The facts mentioned in the report tally to every detail.报告中所提到的事实都丝毫不差。

16 intercept   

vt.拦截，截住，截击

参考例句：

• His letter was intercepted by the Secret Service.他的信被特工处截获了。
• Gunmen intercepted him on his way to the airport.持枪歹徒在他去机场的路上截击了他。

17 dodge   

v.闪开，躲开，避开；n.妙计，诡计

参考例句：

• A dodge behind a tree kept her from being run over.她向树后一闪，才没被车从身上辗过。
• The dodge was coopered by the police.诡计被警察粉碎了。

18 projectiles   

n.抛射体( projectile的名词复数 )；（炮弹、子弹等）射弹，（火箭等）自动推进的武器

参考例句：

• These differences are connected with the strong absorption of the composite projectiles. 这些差别与复杂的入射粒子的强烈吸收有关。 来自辞典例句
• Projectiles became more important because cannons could now fire balls over hundreds or yards. 抛射体变得更加重要，因为人们已能用大炮把炮弹射到几百码的距离之外。 来自辞典例句

19 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。