美国国家公共电台 NPR Under Deadline, Government Scrambles To Reunite Migrant Families

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The U.S. government is racing¹ to meet today's court-ordered deadline to reunite migrant families. Children were separated from their parents at the border to discourage other illegal crossings. But the federal government has acknowledged many parents won't be able to rejoin their kids. And for those parents who do get to be with their children again, the future is uncertain, to be sure. NPR's John Burnett has our report from south Texas.

JOHN BURNETT, BYLINE²: The immigration bureaucracy on the border is a world of courtrooms and jail cells, asylum³ officers and gray-suited guards, and rarely disorder⁴. But no one has seen anything quite like this - immigration officials scrambling⁵ to reassemble the same families they broke up nearly two months ago. Veteran immigration attorney Ruby⁶ Powers ponders it over a cup of coffee on her way to a detention⁷ center to see a client.

RUBY POWERS: It's a new set of rules. So the child advocates, the case workers, the immigration attorneys, we're all sort of figuring this out. It's like we're building a plane while we're taking off. I feel like that this whole time.

BURNETT: All day, unmarked white vans and chartered buses carrying the migrant children released from shelters across the country roll into the parking lot of the Port Isabel Detention Center. It's a heavily guarded compound on the south Texas Gulf⁸ Coast just across the lagoon⁹ from tourists frolicking on Padre Island. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says in a statement these large-scale transfers of minors¹⁰ present logistical challenges. But the agency says it's working tirelessly to reunite eligible¹¹ families by today's deadline. Some families are taken together to be locked up in another detention center. Many are released on bonds. It's all happening so fast, some of their lawyers can't keep track of them.

(SOUNDBITE OF PHONE DIALING)

CARLOS GARCIA: Officer, this is Carlos Garcia. I'm an attorney in McAllen. And I have a question about a client of mine.

BURNETT: Garcia calls a deportation¹² officer at Port Isabel to find out when one of his clients from Guatemala will be reunited with her daughter, who's en route from a shelter in Arizona. Garcia turns to me after the call.

GARCIA: He said we're trying to make the reunification happen within the hour. I mean, that's awesome¹³. I mean, good for them, you know? The government sure is hauling trying to get these kids back with their parents. Now, it shouldn't be occurring. The government should have never created this chaos¹⁴, and we wouldn't be in this situation. But I will give them credit.

BURNETT: A California federal judge set today as the deadline for the Trump¹⁵ administration to reunite more than 2,500 children, ages 5 to 17. The government said in a court filing earlier this week that as many as 1,600 parents should be back together with their children by today. But hundreds of parents won't be. Four-hundred, sixty-three adults are no longer in the U.S. Many were deported¹⁶. Lucy (ph), a young mother from Honduras, was one of the lucky ones. She's back with her 6-year-old, Rudy (ph). She's calling from her relative's house in Dallas, where they're staying.

LUCY: (Through interpreter) I started to cry when I saw my son. We hugged. He gave me a big kiss and said, Mommy, I missed you and I love you so much. Let's go, Mommy. He wanted us to get out of there fast.

BURNETT: Families reunited at Port Isabel go to a nearby Catholic charity before continuing their journey into the U.S. interior with an ankle monitor and a promise to show up for their asylum hearings. While the family reunions are joyous¹⁷, the harsh reality is that very few of these immigrants will be granted asylum and be allowed to stay. Under new rules adopted by the Justice Department, which runs the immigration courts, most victims of domestic abuse and criminal gangs no longer qualify for asylum. Many Central Americans are seeking protection because they say their own governments won't help them. I spent a day in an immigration court inside Port Isabel Detention Center where Judge Robert Powell makes the final decision on asylum claims. CNN obtained this courtroom recording¹⁸ of Judge Powell earlier this month.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ROBERT POWELL: The decision of the asylum officer is affirmed, and your case is returned to the Department of Homeland Security for you to be removed from the United States.

BURNETT: Robert Powell rejects 8 out of 10 asylum claims. The last case of the day when I was there was a man who says he fled Honduras after his mother was murdered in front of him by village thugs who had a vendetta¹⁹ against his family and who vowed²⁰ he was next. Powell told the man the same thing he tells other immigrants about to be deported, I do wish you good luck in your home country, where upon the Honduran laid his head in his arms and sobbed²¹ loudly as a security guard cleared the courtroom.

John Burnett, NPR News, Port Isabel, Texas.

1 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

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 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。

4 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

5 scrambling   

v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Scrambling up her hair, she darted out of the house. 她匆忙扎起头发，冲出房去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• She is scrambling eggs. 她正在炒蛋。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 ruby   

n.红宝石，红宝石色

参考例句：

• She is wearing a small ruby earring.她戴着一枚红宝石小耳环。
• On the handle of his sword sat the biggest ruby in the world.他的剑柄上镶有一颗世上最大的红宝石。

7 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。

8 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

9 lagoon   

n.泻湖，咸水湖

参考例句：

• The lagoon was pullulated with tropical fish.那个咸水湖聚满了热带鱼。
• This area isolates a restricted lagoon environment.将这一地区隔离起来使形成一个封闭的泻湖环境。

10 minors   

n.未成年人( minor的名词复数 )；副修科目；小公司；[逻辑学]小前提v.[主美国英语]副修，选修，兼修( minor的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The law forbids shops to sell alcohol to minors. 法律禁止商店向未成年者出售含酒精的饮料。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He had three minors this semester. 这学期他有三门副修科目。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。

12 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。

13 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

14 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

15 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。

16 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》

17 joyous   

adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的

参考例句：

• The lively dance heightened the joyous atmosphere of the scene.轻快的舞蹈给这场戏渲染了欢乐气氛。
• They conveyed the joyous news to us soon.他们把这一佳音很快地传递给我们。

18 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

19 vendetta   

n.世仇，宿怨

参考例句：

• For years he pursued a vendetta against the Morris family.多年来他一直在寻求向莫里斯家族报世仇。
• She conducted a personal vendetta against me.她对我有宿仇。

20 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。

21 sobbed   

哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说

参考例句：

• She sobbed out the story of her son's death. 她哭诉着她儿子的死。
• She sobbed out the sad story of her son's death. 她哽咽着诉说她儿子死去的悲惨经过。