美国国家公共电台 NPR Fearing Deportation, Some Immigrants Opt Out Of Health Benefits For Their Kids

 

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

To Texas now where the shock waves from President Trump¹'s zero tolerance² border policy reach beyond the crisis around reuniting thousands of children with their parents. U.S.-born children whose parents are here in the U.S. without documentation are feeling the impact. Constant fear of forced separation is nothing new for these families, but now it is keeping parents away from government services critical to a child's health. Ashley Lopez of member station KUT in Austin reports.

ASHLEY LOPEZ, BYLINE³: Marlene is in a situation a lot of parents in Texas are finding themselves in these days. We aren't using Marlene's last name because she's undocumented. She has two children. Both of them were born in the U.S. One of her kids has some disabilities.

MARLENE: (Speaking Spanish).

LOPEZ: "My son is getting speech therapy," she says. And she says it's been a difficult journey, but he's finally making some progress. Marlene says he's getting help through Medicaid. Both her kids are citizens, so they're entitled government services, including food stamps, now called SNAP. But Marlene says she stopped getting that benefit.

MARLENE: (Speaking Spanish).

LOPEZ: She says that's because the government is asking a lot of questions...

MARLENE: (Speaking Spanish).

LOPEZ: ...Investigating her life from, quote, "head to toe." She says the government asked for things she never had to provide before, including years of paystubs.

MARLENE: (Speaking Spanish).

LOPEZ: She was getting sick from the stress, Marlene says. I repeatedly called and emailed state health officials about these changes and got no answer. And while her son has Medicaid for the next several months, Marlene says she also may pull him from Medicaid next year if that application makes her nervous, too.

MARIA HERNANDEZ: We're seeing families having to make this impossible choice.

LOPEZ: That's Maria Hernandez. She founded a group in Austin called VELA which helps parents who have children with disabilities. She teaches her classes in what used to be an elementary school on the east side of Austin, one of the most diverse areas of the city. Hernandez says about 7 in 10 of the families she works with are immigrants, mostly from Mexico.

HERNANDEZ: And so we're working with families who the parents are immigrant but the children are born here.

LOPEZ: Parents tell Hernandez they feel like they can't risk any attention from the government, even if that means losing badly needed benefits for their kids. They're making critical choices out of fear.

HERNANDEZ: It's out of fear of deportation⁴. It's out of fear of having their children be penalized⁵ in some way and potentially losing a parent that until this point has been their fierce advocate.

LOPEZ: In Texas, this is a decision that is bound to affect a significant number of children, says Anne Dunkelberg with the Center for Public Policy Priorities in Austin.

ANNE DUNKELBERG: A quarter of Texas children have at least one parent who's not a U.S. citizen. Now, I am sure not a hundred percent of those kids - and it's about 1.8 million kids - not a hundred percent of them are using a public benefit, but a very high percentage will be.

LOPEZ: Dunkelberg says families opting⁶ out of Medicaid could further raise the number of uninsured in Texas, already the highest in the nation. Maria Hernandez says parents she works with who have children with disabilities have told her without Medicaid they'll rely on emergency rooms. These are kids with serious chronic⁷ conditions.

HERNANDEZ: Kids that for forever have been followed by a neurologist because they have seizures⁸ or have been going to occupational therapy for years and are finally making progress.

LOPEZ: Health care groups say this trend could get worse if a proposed change to green card eligibility⁹ becomes law. The Trump administration wants it to count against applicants¹⁰ if family members receive government services, even if those family members are citizens. For NPR News, I'm Ashley Lopez in Austin.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE SOUL'S RELEASE'S "CATCHING¹¹ FIREFLIES")

KELLY: And that story is part of a reporting partnership¹² between NPR and Kaiser Health News.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE SOUL'S RELEASE'S "CATCHING FIREFLIES")

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 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。

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 deportation   

n.驱逐，放逐

参考例句：

• The government issued a deportation order against the four men.政府发出了对那4名男子的驱逐令。
• Years ago convicted criminals in England could face deportation to Australia.很多年以前，英国已定罪的犯人可能被驱逐到澳大利亚。

5 penalized   

对…予以惩罚( penalize的过去式和过去分词 )； 使处于不利地位

参考例句：

• You will be penalized for poor spelling. 你拼写不好将会受到处罚。
• Team members will be penalized for lateness. 队员迟到要受处罚。

6 opting   

v.选择，挑选( opt的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• What courses are most students opting for? 多数学生选什么课程？ 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Wells doesn't rule out opting out and then re-signing with Houston. 威尔斯没有排除跳出合同再与火箭重签的可能。 来自互联网

7 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

8 seizures   

n.起获( seizure的名词复数 )；没收；充公；起获的赃物

参考例句：

• Seizures of illicit drugs have increased by 30% this year. 今年违禁药品的扣押增长了30%。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Other causes of unconsciousness predisposing to aspiration lung abscess are convulsive seizures. 造成吸入性肺脓肿昏迷的其他原因，有惊厥发作。 来自辞典例句

9 eligibility   

n.合格，资格

参考例句：

• What are the eligibility requirements? 病人被选参加试验的要求是什么？ 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 回顾与展望
• Eligibility for HINARI access is based on gross national income (GNI). 进入HINARI获取计划是依据国民总收入来评定的。

10 applicants   

申请人，求职人( applicant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were over 500 applicants for the job. 有500多人申请这份工作。
• He was impressed by the high calibre of applicants for the job. 求职人员出色的能力给他留下了深刻印象。

11 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

12 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。