VOA慢速英语--智障男子面临被驱逐出美国

Mentally Disabled Man Faces Expulsion from US

Guillermo Peralta Martinez does not know how old he is or where he was born. He does not even know his mother’s name.

He also does not know if he is a legal resident of the United States.

Martinez appears to be in his 30s. He is mentally disabled and has difficulty speaking. Many people have trouble understanding the few words and sentences he speaks in Spanish.

Yet he has made friends in York Springs, Pennsylvania. Some people there say he has lived in the town since at least the 1990s -- and maybe before then.

Earlier this year, agents working for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency arrested Martinez. He now faces deportation².

ICE officials told VOA that orders signed by President Donald Trump³ do not list groups of people who may not be deported⁴. In other words, even if a person is mentally disabled, he or she may be expelled.

ICE agents say they arrested Peralta in February as he was preparing to go to work.

ICE says he and another individual were arrested as they were leaving a building where someone who had entered the U.S. illegally lived. It says that person had been found guilty of a crime.

In a report written after Peralta was arrested, the agents said he and the other man admitted they were citizens of Mexico and in the United States illegally.

The men were taken to a detention⁵ center in the town of York, about 39 kilometers away. Neither man had a criminal record in the United States.

Peralta remembers “they took my fingerprints⁶. And they put handcuffs on.”

He said he was treated well in the detention center, but he felt mixed up.

“I didn’t know what was going to happen to me,” he said.

An arrest order written after Peralta was detained says he made statements “voluntarily to an immigration officer that he lacks immigration status and as such is removable under U.S. immigration law.”

The document states that Peralta said his mother and father are Mexican citizens, that he has a child who lives in Florida and that he has no medical conditions. It says he was 45 years old at the time of his arrest.

Lawyer Craig Shagin is representing Peralta. He disputes the information in the document. He says Peralta often does not know what he is saying.

Shagin said, “When him I met in the York County prison I would ask him: ‘Where do you live?’ and he would say in Spanish ‘Out there.’ I would ask him his birth date and he would say: ‘One and Two.’”

“If you would ask him ‘Were you born in Mexico?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Were you born in Argentina?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Were you born in Florida?’ ‘Yes.’ Well, there’s a problem there.”

Shagin says someone who knew Peralta when he was a boy claims he is 10 years younger than U.S. officials say he is. He says Peralta was abandoned by his parents. Shagin says Peralta does not have a child. And he says Peralta was not arrested at the place ICE claims.

Witnesses say he was arrested inside an apartment building while he was waiting for a ride to work.

In a court document, Shagin writes: “There is no evidence Peralta was doing anything suspicious. It is unlikely he would have been questioned regarding his citizenship⁷, but for Guillermo’s Hispanic appearance.”

Shagin also says there is no evidence that Peralta was born outside the United States. He says Peralta’s clear “cognitive⁸ impairment demonstrates that (his) own statements are potentially unreliable.”

In April, Peralta was freed from jail after making a bail⁹ payment and promising¹⁰ to return for his next hearing. He had been in the jail for more than two months.

Marlen Carbajal has known Peralta since 2011. She once lived in York Springs. She says the town’s Hispanic community collected $5,000 in bail money to free him.

Since his release, Peralta has returned to doing whatever work he can find.

“I want to stay here,” he says, but he is afraid of being arrested again.

ICE would not talk about Peralta’s case except to say that he entered the United States illegally.

Peralta’s case is one of many at the U.S. Department of Justice Immigration Court in Philadelphia. As of the end of May, there were 2,536 cases waiting to be heard and decided¹¹ at the court.

When Peralta and his lawyer appeared in court in August, ICE asked for more time to develop its case. It was given until November 25 to do so.

I’m Phil Dierking.

And I'm Lucija Millonig.

Words in This Story

resident – n. someone who lives in a particular place

deport¹ – v. to force (a person who is not a citizen) to leave a country

fingerprints – n. the mark that is made by pressing the tip of a finger on a surface; a mark of this kind made in ink for the purpose of identifying a person

handcuffs – n. a set of two metal rings that are joined and locked around a person’s wrists

status – n. the current state of someone or something -- usually singular

abandon – v. to leave and never return to (someone who needs protection or help)

cognitive – adj. of, relating to, or involving conscious mental activities (such as thinking, understanding, learning, and remembering)

impairment – n. a condition in which a part of your body or mind is damaged and does not work well

unreliable – adj. not able to be trusted to do or provide what is needed or promised; not believable or trustworthy

bail – n. an amount of money given to a court to allow a prisoner to leave jail and return later for a trial

1 deport   

vt.驱逐出境

参考例句：

• We deport aliens who slip across our borders.我们把偷渡入境的外国人驱逐出境。
• More than 240 England football fans are being deported from Italy following riots last night.昨晚的骚乱发生后有240多名英格兰球迷被驱逐出意大利。

2 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。

3 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。

4 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》

5 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。

6 fingerprints   

n.指纹( fingerprint的名词复数 )v.指纹( fingerprint的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Everyone's fingerprints are unique. 每个人的指纹都是独一无二的。
• They wore gloves so as not to leave any fingerprints behind (them). 他们戴着手套，以免留下指纹。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

8 cognitive   

adj.认知的，认识的，有感知的

参考例句：

• As children grow older,their cognitive processes become sharper.孩子们越长越大，他们的认知过程变得更为敏锐。
• The cognitive psychologist is like the tinker who wants to know how a clock works.认知心理学者倒很像一个需要通晓钟表如何运转的钟表修理匠。

9 bail   

v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人

参考例句：

• One of the prisoner's friends offered to bail him out.犯人的一个朋友答应保释他出来。
• She has been granted conditional bail.她被准予有条件保释。

10 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

11 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。