美国国家公共电台 NPR Mexico Is Overwhelmed By Asylum Claims As It Ramps Up Immigration Enforcement

 

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

Mexico has 45 days to show the Trump¹ administration it can stop thousands of migrants and asylum²-seekers from reaching the U.S. border. Mexican authorities say they are deploying³ their new National Guard, as well as helicopters, to crack down on illegal border crossings. But Mexican migration⁴ agents say they are overworked and understaffed. From Tapachula, near the Guatemala border, James Fredrick reports.

JAMES FREDRICK, BYLINE⁵: In downtown Tapachula, the office of Mexico's refugee agency is mostly for filing paperwork and interviewing people fleeing persecution⁶. In recent days, it's different. The streets around the office have turned into a makeshift refugee camp. A line of asylum-seekers stretches around two blocks. I meet Rosie Dalia Palacios from El Salvador here. She's sitting on a sheet of cardboard she's been sleeping on.

ROSA HIDALIA PALACIOS: (Speaking Spanish).

FREDRICK: "We're suffering," she says. "I've been on the street for a month. We were sleeping in the park, but migration came and started arresting people." So Rosa and other family, including three young children, are sleeping outside the refugee office while they wait. The agency is overwhelmed nationally. It has just 48 staff members but expects to receive 60,000 asylum claims this year, and their new government cut its budget to just $1.2 million, the agency's lowest in seven years.

Salva Lacruz from the Fray⁷ Matias Human Rights Center here, said over Skype that a few NGOs and churches are the only source of support for people like Palacios.

SALVA LACRUZ: (Speaking Spanish).

FREDRICK: He says, "The Mexican government, on all levels, completely lacks humanitarian⁸ resources and ignores their responsibility to these people." Since striking a deal with U.S. authorities last week, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has referred to the Bible as his guide to treating migrants.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT ANDRES MANUEL LOPEZ OBRADOR: (Speaking Spanish).

FREDRICK: He said, in a press conference Wednesday, "He who mistreats the foreigner, the migrant, especially when they do it out of necessity, is not acting⁹ with humanity." But stopping migrants is the key to satisfying President Trump's demands. And Mexico's migration agency already looks stretched thin here on the southern border. At a migration checkpoint on a highway just north of Tapachula, one agent told me he's overworked.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Speaking Spanish).

FREDRICK: He wasn't authorized¹⁰ to speak on the record, but he told me his job is desk-based. But for the last seven months, he's been on the road traveling constantly as a field agent, both on Mexico's northern and southern borders. Mexico's migration agency did not respond to questions or multiple interview requests from NPR.

At the local immigrant detention¹¹ center, it's a similarly hectic¹² scene, like at the refugee agency. Here I meet Maria Eugenia Mendoza, a 43-year-old mother of five from El Salvador. She's had a harrowing journey since fleeing an abusive husband two years ago, including one deportation¹³ from the U.S. and another from Mexico. Now her 18-year-old son, who fled gang violence last year, has been locked up here after being stopped at a checkpoint. And she's worried he'll be deported¹⁴.

MARIA EUGENIA MENDOZA: (Speaking Spanish).

FREDRICK: She says she's been to the local human rights office, the refugee office and the U.N. Refugee Agency, but no one's been able to help get her son out. The detention center has a capacity for 900 people but often holds more than double that. Mendoza's other son, 21-year-old Jorge, was also locked up here once and says conditions inside are horrible.

JORGE MENDOZA: (Speaking Spanish).

FREDRICK: He says, "They punish people locked inside. It's really nasty and dirty where they keep us. And there's a tiny solitary¹⁵ confinement¹⁶ room. They kept me there three days in total darkness." Salva Lacruz from the human rights group has access to this detention center and says problems run even deeper.

LACRUZ: (Speaking Spanish).

FREDRICK: He says, "Migrants don't have rights in there. They have no access to information or legal representation." Without some major changes, and fast, many say Mexico's president won't be able to fulfill¹⁷ his promises to Trump or to migrants.

For NPR News, I'm James Fredrick, in Tapachula, Mexico.

1 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。

2 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

3 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

4 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

5 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。

6 persecution   

n. 迫害,烦扰

参考例句：

• He had fled from France at the time of the persecution. 他在大迫害时期逃离了法国。
• Their persecution only serves to arouse the opposition of the people. 他们的迫害只激起人民对他们的反抗。

7 fray   

v.争吵；打斗；磨损，磨破；n.吵架；打斗

参考例句：

• Why should you get involved in their fray?你为什么要介入他们的争吵呢？
• Tempers began to fray in the hot weather.大热天脾气烦燥。

8 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

9 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

10 authorized   

a.委任的，许可的

参考例句：

• An administrative order is valid if authorized by a statute.如果一个行政命令得到一个法规的认可那么这个命令就是有效的。

11 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。

12 hectic   

adj.肺病的；消耗热的；发热的；闹哄哄的

参考例句：

• I spent a very hectic Sunday.我度过了一个忙乱的星期天。
• The two days we spent there were enjoyable but hectic.我们在那里度过的两天愉快但闹哄哄的。

13 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。

14 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》

15 solitary   

adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士

参考例句：

• I am rather fond of a solitary stroll in the country.我颇喜欢在乡间独自徜徉。
• The castle rises in solitary splendour on the fringe of the desert.这座城堡巍然耸立在沙漠的边际，显得十分壮美。

16 confinement   

n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限

参考例句：

• He spent eleven years in solitary confinement.他度过了11年的单独监禁。
• The date for my wife's confinement was approaching closer and closer.妻子分娩的日子越来越近了。

17 fulfill   

vt.履行，实现，完成；满足，使满意

参考例句：

• If you make a promise you should fulfill it.如果你许诺了，你就要履行你的诺言。
• This company should be able to fulfill our requirements.这家公司应该能够满足我们的要求。