2006年VOA标准英语-'Minuteman' Group Plans New Operation Alon

By Greg Flakus
Houston
31 March 2006

The Minuteman organization, a private group that advocates stricter immigration controls, is planning a month-long operation along the border with Mexico starting Saturday.  The group is also keeping a close eye on the U.S Senate's current debate over immigration reform.

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Over the past week media attention has focused on Hispanic demonstrations¹ against proposed restrictions² on illegal immigration and measures that would tighten³ enforcement of existing immigration laws. The U.S. Senate is now debating these proposals as well as a proposed guest worker program favored by President Bush that would provide a path to citizenship⁴ for the estimated 11 million undocumented foreign workers who are currently in the United States.

But organizations that favor stricter enforcement of immigration laws are also raising their voices. The Minutemen, who staged an operation on a small stretch of the Mexican border with Arizona last year, are planning to expand that operation this year, according to spokesman Al Garza, who spoke⁵ to VOA by phone from his home in Arizona.

 
Al Garza
  
"We are going to try to block off the borders between California and extend it all the way to Texas and it is going to be a 30-day operation," said Mr. Garza.

Garza says there are 7,000 volunteers ready to participate in the effort and that they will take up positions at various points along the border. As they have done in the past, he says, the Minutemen will only observe and report illegal activity to the U.S. Border Patrol.

Al Garza is a Mexican-American, but he says he disagrees with Hispanic leaders who are advocating legalization of undocumented workers and who oppose efforts to better control the border.

"The Mexican-Americans that I know and any Hispanic American in their right mind is going to side our way," he explained.  "Most of them that I have spoken to say the same thing, because they are truly Americans. Although they do the Spanish or Mexican culture, they eat their rice, beans, tortillas, et cetera, but at the same time they know where their loyalty⁶ belongs and it is to this country."

The Minuteman organizer says he and many fellow Mexican Americans were dismayed by images of young people in Los Angeles and other cities carrying Mexican flags and demanding legalized status for people who violated U.S. immigration laws to enter the country. Garza says U.S. Senators should take a hard look at what has happened.

"We are the tax-paying citizens, we are the Americans and when our flags go down and the Mexican flag goes up that should be the red light for them," he added.  "They should say, 'Hey, wait a minute, these people are not protesting, they are invading our country.' That is exactly what they have done."

Public opinion polls show Hispanic Americans, much like Americans in general, are split over the immigration issue. While most Hispanics express sympathy for the immigrants and their struggle to make a better life for themselves and their families, many also see the need to better protect the border and to establish a more orderly way for migrant workers to enter the country.

1 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

2 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

3 tighten   

v.(使)变紧；(使)绷紧

参考例句：

• Turn the screw to the right to tighten it.向右转动螺钉把它拧紧。
• Some countries tighten monetary policy to avoid inflation.一些国家实行紧缩银根的货币政策，以避免通货膨胀。

4 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。

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 loyalty   

n.忠诚，忠心

参考例句：

• She told him the truth from a sense of loyalty.她告诉他真相是出于忠诚。
• His loyalty to his friends was never in doubt.他对朋友的一片忠心从来没受到怀疑。