美国国家公共电台 NPR Fearing Checkpoints, Undocumented Immigrants Cut Off From Medical Care

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

A disabled 10-year-old girl was recently apprehended¹ in South Texas for immigration violations². Her case spotlights³ a harsh reality of the borderlands. Undocumented immigrants who live north of the border but south of a string of Border Patrol checkpoints say they feel trapped. Some call it la jaula, Spanish for the cage. NPR's John Burnett reports.

JOHN BURNETT, BYLINE⁴: The federal government maintains 34 highway checkpoints within a hundred miles of the southwest border as a second line of defense⁵ against illegal immigration. At the checkpoint on the interstate north of Laredo, Texas, Border Patrol agents question every driver.

UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: Good afternoon. Could you state your citizenship⁶?

BURNETT: They're looking for smuggled⁷ drugs and people.

UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: Resident? Anybody else in the vehicle?

BURNETT: Because they fear getting caught at these checkpoints, unauthorized immigrants can live their whole lives in this strip of thorn brush and desert along the U.S.-Mexico border. They miss graduations and funerals. They hunker down instead of evacuating⁸ for hurricanes. The undocumented parents of Rosa Maria Hernandez, the little girl with cerebral⁹ palsy, were fearful as well. They didn't accompany her through the checkpoint to a hospital two and a half hours away. Instead, they sent her with an adult cousin, who's a U.S. citizen. But the Border Patrol apprehended her anyway. Mike Smith is a Methodist pastor¹⁰ and director of a local community center.

MIKE SMITH: So people who live here in Laredo are really living in an island. You can't go anywhere north, south, east, west without passing through some kind of checkpoint that questions your nationality, citizenship.

BURNETT: For people trapped in the cage, on this island, the lack of specialized¹¹ health care is the biggest challenge. Laredo, an isolated¹² city of 235,000 people, has limited medical facilities. Inocencia Garcia never, ever leaves Laredo - not for vacations, not for medical care. The wizened¹³, soft-spoken woman has lived in Laredo illegally for 26 of her 67 years.

INOCENCIA GARCIA: (Speaking Spanish).

BURNETT: Garcia says for several years she's suffered from a chronic¹⁴ bladder infection that resists antibiotics¹⁵. She's had to stop working as a housekeeper¹⁶. If she's too active, she bleeds. Pastor Mike Smith has tried to help.

SMITH: I have a doctor that's ready to see her and to treat her in San Antonio at no cost, but she can't get there.

BURNETT: The Border Patrol says it's their policy that if an undocumented immigrant is in an ambulance at the checkpoint agents allow them to continue on to the hospital, then hand them a Notice to Appear in immigration court. That's what happened to Josefina Pena, another undocumented housekeeper and Laredo resident.

JOSEFINA PENA: (Speaking Spanish).

BURNETT: Pena, who is 60, says a doctor told her she had partial blockage¹⁷ in her veins¹⁸ and was at risk for a heart attack. She needed an emergency coronary angioplasty, so in April she left Laredo for University Hospital in San Antonio. But first, her ambulance had to pass the checkpoint.

PENA: (Speaking Spanish).

BURNETT: "I was lying in the back of the ambulance," she says, "when an agent opened the door and asked me for my documents. I told him I didn't have any. He closed the door and let us go through. Then when we got to San Antonio, the Border Patrol was there waiting for me."

In her hospital bed, Josefina Pena was put under arrest. After the procedure, agents transported her to a federal detention¹⁹ facility in Laredo. She was released the next day. Josefina's attorney and other longtime Laredoans say agents didn't always bother with undocumented immigrants at the checkpoint on their way to the hospital. Sometimes they just let them go. But under the Trump²⁰ administration, they say, enforcement has gotten much stricter. Nelly Vielma is an immigration lawyer and City Council member in Laredo. She represented a woman whose ambulance was followed from Laredo to a San Antonio hospital, where immigration agents served her with deportation²¹ orders before she had a brain tumor²² removed.

NELLY VIELMA: We've noticed more detentions²³. We've noticed less discretion²⁴, cases where we thought, OK, this was, you know, a sure thing. You know, they will exercise their prosecutorial²⁵ discretion. They don't.

BURNETT: The Border Patrol disputes they handle medical emergencies at the checkpoints any differently these days. Gabriel Acosta is assistant chief patrol agent in the Laredo sector²⁶.

GABRIEL ACOSTA: It's 100 percent inspection²⁷. Nothing has changed. In the 20 years I've been in the Border Patrol, we're doing exactly the same thing.

BURNETT: Some border residents wonder why immigration authorities are following ambulances carrying sick women and children who pose no threat. The Border Patrol responds, we're just enforcing the law. John Burnett, NPR News, Laredo.

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

And this update - the ACLU, which is representing 10-year-old Rosa Maria Hernandez, said late-Friday that the girl has been released from a government-contracted shelter to the custody²⁸ of her parents. She still faces a deportation order in court.

(SOUNDBITE OF SHOUT OUT LOUDS SONG, "JUMBO JET")

1 apprehended   

逮捕，拘押( apprehend的过去式和过去分词 )； 理解

参考例句：

• She apprehended the complicated law very quickly. 她很快理解了复杂的法律。
• The police apprehended the criminal. 警察逮捕了罪犯。

2 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

3 spotlights   

n.聚光灯（的光）( spotlight的名词复数 )；公众注意的中心v.聚光照明( spotlight的第三人称单数 )；使公众注意，使突出醒目

参考例句：

• The room was lit by spotlights. 房间被聚光灯照亮。
• The dazzle of the spotlights made him ill at ease. 聚光灯的耀眼强光使他局促不安。 来自辞典例句

4 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。

5 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

6 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。

7 smuggled   

水货

参考例句：

• The customs officer confiscated the smuggled goods. 海关官员没收了走私品。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Those smuggled goods have been detained by the port office. 那些走私货物被港务局扣押了。 来自互联网

8 evacuating   

撤离，疏散( evacuate的现在分词 )； 排空（胃肠），排泄（粪便）； （从危险的地方）撤出，搬出，撤空

参考例句：

• The solution is degassed by alternately freezing, evacuating and thawing. 通过交替的冻结、抽空和溶化来使溶液除气。
• Are we evacuating these potential targets? 能够在这些目标地域内进行疏散吗？

9 cerebral   

adj.脑的，大脑的；有智力的，理智型的

参考例句：

• Your left cerebral hemisphere controls the right-hand side of your body.你的左半脑控制身体的右半身。
• He is a precise,methodical,cerebral man who carefully chooses his words.他是一个一丝不苟、有条理和理智的人，措辞谨慎。

10 pastor   

n.牧师，牧人

参考例句：

• He was the son of a poor pastor.他是一个穷牧师的儿子。
• We have no pastor at present:the church is run by five deacons.我们目前没有牧师：教会的事是由五位执事管理的。

11 specialized   

adj.专门的，专业化的

参考例句：

• There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
• These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。

12 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

13 wizened   

adj.凋谢的；枯槁的

参考例句：

• That wizened and grotesque little old man is a notorious miser.那个干瘪难看的小老头是个臭名远扬的吝啬鬼。
• Mr solomon was a wizened little man with frizzy gray hair.所罗门先生是一个干瘪矮小的人，头发鬈曲灰白。

14 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

15 antibiotics   

n.（用作复数）抗生素；（用作单数）抗生物质的研究；抗生素，抗菌素( antibiotic的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the discovery of antibiotics in the 20th century 20世纪抗生素的发现
• The doctor gave me a prescription for antibiotics. 医生给我开了抗生素。

16 housekeeper   

n.管理家务的主妇，女管家

参考例句：

• A spotless stove told us that his mother is a diligent housekeeper.炉子清洁无瑕就表明他母亲是个勤劳的主妇。
• She is an economical housekeeper and feeds her family cheaply.她节约持家，一家人吃得很省。

17 blockage   

n.障碍物；封锁

参考例句：

• The logical treatment is to remove this blockage.合理的治疗方法就是清除堵塞物。
• If the blockage worked,they could retreat with dignity.如果封锁发生作用，他们可以体面地撤退。

18 veins   

n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理

参考例句：

• The blood flows from the capillaries back into the veins. 血从毛细血管流回静脉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I felt a pleasant glow in all my veins from the wine. 喝过酒后我浑身的血都热烘烘的，感到很舒服。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 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。

20 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。

21 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。

22 tumor   

n.（肿）瘤，肿块(英)tumour

参考例句：

• He was died of a malignant tumor.他死于恶性肿瘤。
• The surgeons irradiated the tumor.外科医生用X射线照射那个肿瘤。

23 detentions   

拘留( detention的名词复数 )； 扣押； 监禁； 放学后留校

参考例句：

• Teachers may assign detention tasks as they wish and some detentions have been actually dangerous. 老师可能随心所欲指派关禁闭的形式，有些禁闭事实上很危险。
• Intimidation, beatings and administrative detentions are often enough to prevent them from trying again. 恐吓，拷打和行政拘留足以阻止请愿者二次进京的脚步。

24 discretion   

n.谨慎；随意处理

参考例句：

• You must show discretion in choosing your friend.你择友时必须慎重。
• Please use your best discretion to handle the matter.请慎重处理此事。

25 prosecutorial   

公诉人的，原告的； 起诉的

参考例句：

• If prosecutorial misconduct results in a mistrial, a later prosecution may be barred. 如果检察官的不轨行为导致审判无效，再行起诉可能会被除数禁止。 来自口语例句
• Prosecutorial supervision is required according to public power attribution of civil litigation. 民事诉讼的个性和检察监督是对立统一的关系，并不排斥检察监督。

26 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

27 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。

28 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。