美国国家公共电台 NPR Inside The Trial Of 3 Guatemalan Mothers Separated From Their Children

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

This next story takes us along the U.S.-Mexico border. In courthouses there, immigrant parents who crossed illegally with their children face a harsh reality. They'll no longer be allowed to stay together as a family. The parents are detained under a new Trump¹ administration policy, and the children are transported to shelters sometimes hundreds of miles away. NPR's John Burnett reports on the trial of three Guatemalan mothers desperate to be reunited with their sons.

JOHN BURNETT, BYLINE²: On Wednesday, these three young women went on trial inside the red rock federal courthouse here in Alpine³, Texas. It's about 70 miles from the spot where Emilia Figueroa, Fidelina Pascual-Leiva and Maria Santiago-Sanchez waded⁴ across the Rio Grande three weeks ago.

They were each traveling with a son. One is 8 years old. Two are 9. One of the women testified she believed if she brought her boy with her, the two of them would be released to live in the U.S. until their immigration court date. But to their horror, the opposite occurred. Agents booked the Guatemalan mothers for unlawful entry then took their children away to a shelter in New York City.

Chris Carlin is the public defender⁵ handling their cases. In an interview, he said he thinks this is all part of the Trump administration's mean-spirited plan to deter⁶ more unauthorized immigrants from coming.

CHRIS CARLIN: The only thing that makes sense to me is to make it far more onerous⁷ to reconnect the adult with the child. Why else would you do this? Why would you take a child from the desert of West Texas and fly them to Manhattan?

BURNETT: These women are part of the biggest surge of undocumented migrants since Trump took office. Immigration agents arrested more than 50,000 in May, more than three times the number a year ago. At the same time, the government has vowed⁸ to prosecute⁹ every immigrant who crosses illegally, even if they ask for asylum¹⁰. It's called zero tolerance¹¹. The result has been an overflow¹² of detainees, so many that the government is putting adults in federal prison beds and looking at military facilities to house their children.

Here in Alpine, the Federal Court docket has jumped 40 percent. Attorney General Jeff Sessions blames the parents. Here he is on the Hugh Hewitt radio show earlier this week.

(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "THE HUGH HEWITT SHOW")

JEFF SESSIONS: No, we don't want to do this at all. If people don't want to be separated from their children, they should not bring them with them, especially - we've got to get this message out. If you come illegally and if you bring children, you'll still be prosecuted¹³.

BURNETT: The frightened, despondent¹⁴ faces of the three Mayan women indicated they had clearly not gotten the message. They were dressed in tangerine¹⁵ orange jumpsuits, shackled¹⁶ at the waist and ankles, so short in stature¹⁷ that when they sat down, their rubber jail slippers¹⁸ barely touched the carpeted floor. Emilia Figueroa, an illiterate¹⁹ 24-year-old housewife, testified that she fled her village when local thugs extorted²⁰ her and threatened to harm her and her son. She says she borrowed $4,000 from family friends to make her way to Alabama to stay with a relative.

Her attorney asked why she came here. This is the place where there is no violence as there is in my country, she replied softly in Spanish. Her attorney tried again and again to point out that these defendants²¹ are mothers and deserve leniency²². But each time, the prosecutor²³ objected, saying it was irrelevant²⁴. Again, defense²⁵ attorney Chris Carlin.

CARLIN: In these cases - in the three cases that you saw today, there is no mention whatsoever²⁶ in the Border Patrol narrative²⁷ that those women had a child with them when they entered the United States - nothing.

BURNETT: At the end of the three-hour trial, Magistrate²⁸ Judge David Fannin was visibly moved by the women's predicament. As painful as this may be, he said, I find you guilty of the offense²⁹ of illegal entry into the United States. He then declared their punishment was time served for the three weeks they'd been detained. Under the old rules, at this point, parents would be reunited with their children, released and told to appear in immigration court.

But Trump has vowed to do away with what critics derisively³⁰ call catch and release. So under the new rules, these three women will be moved from a pretrial cell to an immigration cell in the same lockup. There, they'll wait until their asylum claims are decided³¹.

CARLIN: So all that will actually happen is they'll be - the color of their uniform will basically change.

BURNETT: From?

CARLIN: They'll go from orange to green, and then they'll be in immigration custody³².

BURNETT: The judge asked the three diminutive³³ women if they had anything to say. They shuffled³⁴ to a microphone, ankle chains clanking, with marshals towering over them. Ms. Figueroa wept as she told the judge, thank you for listening. Thank you for your kindness. Ms. Pascual-Leiva said, I apologize for entering your country unlawfully. Then, Ms. Santiago-Sanchez said, through tears, when they took away our children we cried and cried. We were so sad.

Chris Carlin is not so sure when they'll be reunited. He said that none of the mothers have communicated with their sons or even knew where they were until Wednesday morning. Aware of the widespread panic that family separation has caused, Immigration and Customs Enforcement says it has now set up hotlines and assigned officers to help detained parents find their children who are somewhere in U.S. government custody.

John Burnett, NPR News, Alpine, Texas.

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 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。

3 alpine   

adj.高山的；n.高山植物

参考例句：

• Alpine flowers are abundant there.那里有很多高山地带的花。
• Its main attractions are alpine lakes and waterfalls .它以高山湖泊和瀑布群为主要特色。

4 waded   

（从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She tucked up her skirt and waded into the river. 她撩起裙子蹚水走进河里。
• He waded into the water to push the boat out. 他蹚进水里把船推出来。

5 defender   

n.保卫者，拥护者，辩护人

参考例句：

• He shouldered off a defender and shot at goal.他用肩膀挡开防守队员，然后射门。
• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。

6 deter   

vt.阻止，使不敢，吓住

参考例句：

• Failure did not deter us from trying it again.失败并没有能阻挡我们再次进行试验。
• Dogs can deter unwelcome intruders.狗能够阻拦不受欢迎的闯入者。

7 onerous   

adj.繁重的

参考例句：

• My household duties were not particularly onerous.我的家务活并不繁重。
• This obligation sometimes proves onerous.这一义务有时被证明是艰巨的。

8 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。

9 prosecute   

vt.告发；进行；vi.告发，起诉，作检察官

参考例句：

• I am trying my best to prosecute my duties.我正在尽力履行我的职责。
• Is there enough evidence to prosecute?有没有起诉的足够证据？

10 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。

11 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。

12 overflow   

v.(使)外溢，(使)溢出；溢出，流出，漫出

参考例句：

• The overflow from the bath ran on to the floor.浴缸里的水溢到了地板上。
• After a long period of rain,the river may overflow its banks.长时间的下雨天后，河水可能溢出岸来。

13 prosecuted   

a.被起诉的

参考例句：

• The editors are being prosecuted for obscenity. 编辑因刊载污秽文字而被起诉。
• The company was prosecuted for breaching the Health and Safety Act. 这家公司被控违反《卫生安全条例》。

14 despondent   

adj.失望的，沮丧的，泄气的

参考例句：

• He was up for a time and then，without warning,despondent again.他一度兴高采烈，但忽然又情绪低落下来。
• I feel despondent when my work is rejected.作品被拒后我感到很沮丧。

15 tangerine   

n.橘子，橘子树

参考例句：

• Hand me of a the ripest tangerine please.请递给我一个最熟的橘子。
• These tangerine are transported here by air from Fuzhou.这些福橘是刚刚从福州空运过来的。

16 shackled   

给（某人）带上手铐或脚镣( shackle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The hostage had been shackled to a radiator. 当时人质被铐在暖气片上。
• He was shackled and in darkness of torment. 他被困在黑暗中备受煎熬。

17 stature   

n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材

参考例句：

• He is five feet five inches in stature.他身高5英尺5英寸。
• The dress models are tall of stature.时装模特儿的身材都较高。

18 slippers   

n. 拖鞋

参考例句：

• a pair of slippers 一双拖鞋
• He kicked his slippers off and dropped on to the bed. 他踢掉了拖鞋，倒在床上。

19 illiterate   

adj.文盲的；无知的；n.文盲

参考例句：

• There are still many illiterate people in our country.在我国还有许多文盲。
• I was an illiterate in the old society,but now I can read.我这个旧社会的文盲，今天也认字了。

20 extorted   

v.敲诈( extort的过去式和过去分词 )；曲解

参考例句：

• The gang extorted money from over 30 local businesses. 这帮歹徒向当地30多户商家勒索过钱财。
• He extorted a promise from me. 他硬要我答应。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

21 defendants   

被告( defendant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The courts heard that the six defendants had been coerced into making a confession. 法官审判时发现6位被告人曾被迫承认罪行。
• As in courts, the defendants are represented by legal counsel. 与法院相同，被告有辩护律师作为代表。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

22 leniency   

n.宽大（不严厉）

参考例句：

• udges are advised to show greater leniency towards first-time offenders.建议法官对初犯者宽大处理。
• Police offer leniency to criminals in return for information.警方给罪犯宽大处理以换取情报。

23 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

24 irrelevant   

adj.不恰当的，无关系的，不相干的

参考例句：

• That is completely irrelevant to the subject under discussion.这跟讨论的主题完全不相关。
• A question about arithmetic is irrelevant in a music lesson.在音乐课上，一个数学的问题是风马牛不相及的。

25 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

26 whatsoever   

adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么

参考例句：

• There's no reason whatsoever to turn down this suggestion.没有任何理由拒绝这个建议。
• All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,do ye even so to them.你想别人对你怎样，你就怎样对人。

27 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

28 magistrate   

n.地方行政官，地方法官，治安官

参考例句：

• The magistrate committed him to prison for a month.法官判处他一个月监禁。
• John was fined 1000 dollars by the magistrate.约翰被地方法官罚款1000美元。

29 offense   

n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪

参考例句：

• I hope you will not take any offense at my words. 对我讲的话请别见怪。
• His words gave great offense to everybody present.他的发言冲犯了在场的所有人。

30 derisively   

adv. 嘲笑地，嘲弄地

参考例句：

• This answer came derisively from several places at the same instant. 好几个人都不约而同地以讥讽的口吻作出回答。
• The others laughed derisively. 其余的人不以为然地笑了起来。

31 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。

32 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。

33 diminutive   

adj.小巧可爱的，小的

参考例句：

• Despite its diminutive size,the car is quite comfortable.尽管这辆车很小，但相当舒服。
• She has diminutive hands for an adult.作为一个成年人，她的手显得非常小。

34 shuffled   

v.洗（纸牌）( shuffle的过去式和过去分词 )；拖着脚步走；粗心地做；摆脱尘世的烦恼

参考例句：

• He shuffled across the room to the window. 他拖着脚走到房间那头的窗户跟前。
• Simon shuffled awkwardly towards them. 西蒙笨拙地拖着脚朝他们走去。 来自《简明英汉词典》