VOA标准英语2013--Battle for US Immigration Reform Gathers Steam

 

Battle for US Immigration Reform Gathers Steam

There are an estimated 11-million illegal immigrants in the United States with more still hoping to cross the border.

Claudia Hernandez came here as a child, and like many in her situation, she feels she belongs in the U.S. 

"I have been here more than half of my life, and I respect the United States. This is my country," she said.

Only days into his second term, President Obama began the push for change.

"The time has come for common-sense, comprehensive immigration reform," he stated. "The time is now."

Already, Congress has begun to hold hearings.

And a bipartisan group of senators, including former Republican presidential candidate John McCain, is pushing ahead with a plan of its own.

"We have been too content for too long to allow individuals to mow¹ our lawn, serve us food, clean our homes and even watch our children while not affording them any of the benefits that make our country so great," McCain said.

The bi-partisan plan calls for tighter border controls as well as a path to citizenship², something President Obama insists upon.

That worries Jim Gilchrist. He founded the Minuteman Project, a citizen's group that helps guard the border.

"If we are going to grant amnesty to 15 to 30-million people, who are here illegally now, we are going to be granting amnesty to 300 million," he added. "Who will follow them over the next several decades."

Other activists³ and lawmakers say proposals to secure the borders don't go far enough - even though the United States spends more money on immigration enforcement than on all other federal law enforcement activities combined.

In the meantime, the pressure is on - both President Obama and Congress.

Janet Murguia heads La Raza, the largest U.S. Hispanic civil rights and advocacy group. "The reality is that Hispanic and Latin voters went to the polls on election day with the economy on their minds, but with immigration reform in their hearts," she said.

With the State of the Union address as a platform, advocates on all sides of the issue are hoping something gets done, all too aware such hopes have been dashed before. 

1 mow   

v.割（草、麦等），扫射，皱眉；n.草堆，谷物堆

参考例句：

• He hired a man to mow the lawn.他雇人割草。
• We shall have to mow down the tall grass in the big field.我们得把大田里的高草割掉。

2 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。

3 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》