PBS高端访谈:（在线收听）

JUDY WOODRUFF: Now to immigration.

You have probably seen the headlines in the past few days about what is happening to children who cross the U.S. border without legal documents.

We want to take a moment to look deeper at what we know about current policy and who is being affected.

Amna Nawaz explains.

AMNA NAWAZ: Last month, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced his Justice Department, specifically prosecutors in the Southwest, would take a zero tolerance policy and pursue more criminal prosecutions, instead of civil proceedings, against migrants crossing the border illegally.

JEFF SESSIONS, U.S. Attorney General: If you cross the border unlawfully, even a first offense, then we're going to prosecute you.

AMNA NAWAZ: But those prosecutions in general have consequences for the migrants' children.

When a parent is taken into custody to face prosecution, any children with them, by law, are placed in the care of a federal agency, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS, which houses them in temporary shelters.

JEFF SESSIONS: If you don't want your child to be separated, then don't bring them across the border illegally.

It's not our fault that somebody does that.

AMNA NAWAZ: How many children have been separated from their parents?

The numbers aren't clear.

The New York Times previously reported that "More than 700 children have been taken from adults claiming to be their parents, including more than a hundred under the age of 4."

That was for a period from October 2017 to April 2018, the same month Sessions announced more criminal prosecutions for illegal entries.

And more prosecutions means more families will be separated.

Once they're separated from their parents, those children become classified as unaccompanied minors.

Still other children arrive alone at the border.

Last fiscal year alone, U.S. agents took more than 41,000 unaccompanied children into custody.

And it's up to HHS to place them in safe settings, with preference given to family, as the children await proceedings.

Last year, HHS tried to contact thousands of those kids and their sponsors, but couldn't find them all.

The head of the office in charge of their placement was asked about that on Capitol Hill.

SEN.ROB PORTMAN (R), Ohio: About 1,475 kids out of 7,000 roughly that you called, you had no idea where they were.

That's not 100 percent.

That about 19 percent totally unaccounted for.

Why did you say 100 percent?

STEVEN WAGNER, Acting Assistant Secretary for Administration for Children and Families: I was trying to illustrate to the senator that immediately upon release we know everyone is, and then time and tides intervene to change that.

AMNA NAWAZ: That prompted headlines and a social media outcry.

HHS now says those nearly 1,500 kids aren't lost.

They just didn't answer their 30-day follow-up phone call, a step HHS said it recently added to check on their well-being.

But what do we know about those children?

We know many arrived alone at the southern border, and that most were from Honduras, Guatemala or El Salvador, according to government data.

And on top of all this, of course, is the reality migrants face once in custody.

And on that point, Judy, there have been a number of recent reports documenting really a pattern of alleged mistreatment in detention.

It's everything from inhumane and unsanitary conditions, all the way to verbal, physical and sexual abuse.

And that's not just for adults.

That's also in the case of children in custody.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And, certainly, all that requires is going to require and calls for more reporting.

AMNA NAWAZ: Absolutely.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Amna Nawaz, thank you.

朱蒂·伍德瑞夫：现在来看移民方面的内容。

过去几天里，你可能已经看到了一些头版头条，其中描绘了在那些非法越境的孩子们身上所发生的故事。

我们想花点时间深入了解一下，当前的政策以及受此影响的人们。

阿姆纳·纳瓦兹解释说。

阿姆纳·纳瓦兹：上个月，司法部长杰夫·塞申斯宣布他的司法部，特别是西南地区的检察官们，将采取零容忍政策，加强对非法越境的移民提起刑事诉讼，而非民事诉讼。

杰夫·塞申斯，美国司法部长：如果非法越境，即便只是初犯，我们也要起诉你。

阿姆纳·纳瓦兹：但是那些起诉一般会对移民子女造成影响。

如果父母遭受关押，面临起诉，根据法律，任何子女都将置于联邦机构、美国卫生与人类服务部或HHS的监护之下，HHS将会把他们安置在临时庇护所中。

杰夫·塞申斯：如果你不想让你的孩子离开你，那就不要带他们非法越境。

别人这样做不是我们的错。

阿姆纳·纳瓦兹：已有多少孩子离开了他们的父母？

具体数字不详。

《纽约时报》此前报道称，“超过700名儿童遭受了与成年人的隔离，这些成年人自称是他们的父母，其中还有超过100名4岁以下的幼童。”

这个数据显示了从2017年10月到2018年4月的情况，同月塞申斯宣布将加强对非法入境者进行刑事起诉。

更多的起诉意味着更多的家庭将遭受分离。

一旦他们离开父母，这些孩子就将被归为无陪伴未成年人。

此外还有一些孩子独自来到边境。

仅上一财年，美国机构就监护了41,000多名无陪伴儿童。

在孩子们的等待期间，HHS把他们安放在安全的地方，优先考虑家庭安放。

去年，HHS试图联系了数千名孩子以及他们的收养赞助商，但未能完全完成。

负责安置工作的办公室负责人在美国国会山被问及此事。

参议员罗布·波特曼，俄亥俄州：你说7,000名孩子中大约有1,475名，你对于他们的去向，并不了解。

那不是100%。

约有19%完全下落不明。

你为什么说100%？

史提芬·瓦格纳，负责儿童和家庭事务的代理助理部长：我曾试图向参议员解释，获释之初，我们知道每个人都在，但时间久了，情况有所变化。

阿姆纳·纳瓦兹：这成了新闻头条，并引发了社交媒体的强烈抗议。

现在HHS说，那约1500名儿童实际并未失踪。

他们只是在此后30天内没有接听后续电话，HHS说最近增加了一个步骤，去了解他们的幸福感。

但是我们对这些孩子了解多少呢？

根据政府数据，我们知道很多人只身一人来到南部边境，大部分来自洪都拉斯、瓜地马拉或萨尔瓦多。

当然，最重要的是，移民被关押后面对的现实情况。

在这一点上，朱蒂，最近的一些报道记录了关押期间对移民的人身虐待。

这一切都不人道不健康的，其中涉及口头，身体以及性虐待。

这还不仅仅涉及成年人。

同时也涉及被羁押的儿童。

朱蒂·伍德瑞夫：当然，这一切都需要-将需要更多的报道。

阿姆纳·纳瓦兹：当然。

朱蒂·伍德瑞夫：阿姆纳·纳瓦兹，谢谢你。