美国国家公共电台 NPR Migrant Caregivers Separated From Children At Border, Sent Back to Mexico

 

NOEL KING, HOST:

In the surge of migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border, there are thousands of families traveling with children. They're hoping to give the kids a better life in America. But what many of those aunts and sisters and grandmothers don't know is that they may never join those children in the U.S.

NPR's Joel Rose reports on how family separation is happening under the Trump¹ administration's policy that's called Remain in Mexico.

JOEL ROSE, BYLINE²: More than 6,000 migrants have been sent back to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, just across the border from El Paso, Texas, to wait for their day in U.S. immigration court. Many of them wind up in migrant shelters, places like El Buen Pastor³.

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ROSE: It's a compound of one-story cinder⁴ block buildings, ringed by barbed wire. A radio plays in the courtyard as an older woman from Guatemala hangs laundry out to dry in the midday sun.

The woman doesn't want to use her name because she doesn't want to jeopardize⁵ her asylum⁶ case. She crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in April with two grand-nieces and a grand-nephew that she'd raised for more than a decade.

She had hoped they would all join the children's mother, who was trying to build a life in Los Angeles. When they got to the border, the older woman thought she had everything in order.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Through interpreter) I brought a letter from their father, and each one brought a birth certificate. And that's where they separated us. We gave the officers our names, and he essentially⁷ said that the children were traveling alone, unaccompanied.

ROSE: She was surprised and horrified⁸. She didn't see the kids for several days, until immigration officials brought them back to her. But that was only to say goodbye. The children went to a shelter in the U.S. while she was sent back to Mexico.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Through interpreter) I don't know what's going to happen.

ROSE: Still, she's gratified that the kids were reunited with their mom in LA after spending a month at a child shelter.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Through interpreter) Right now it gives me comfort to know that they're with their mother. What happens to me is less important.

ROSE: Advocates say children and caregivers are being torn apart across the southern border, where grandparents, siblings⁹ and other relatives have been sent back to Mexico while the children they've brought thousands of miles are taken into U.S. custody¹⁰.

The kids will be placed in shelters for, quote, "unaccompanied children," run by the Department of Health and Human Services, which will try to place them with relatives who are already living in the U.S.

But the caregivers who came with those children are left in Mexico to fight for asylum, where they have little chance of success and little to no contact with the children they've raised, sometimes from infancy¹¹.

NOEMI: (Through interpreter) I felt bad. You're in a place where you can't communicate. It was really hard.

ROSE: This is Noemi (ph), who also didn't want to give her full name. She was separated from her younger brother at the border. They traveled together from Honduras. Their mother is in Virginia, supporting the family. Noemi, who is 24, says she's been raising her 15-year-old brother for years. He's now been reunited with their mother, while she is stuck in Mexico.

NOEMI: (Through interpreter) Part of me feels relieved because he's already there. But part of me is struggling because I also wanted to be with my mom.

ROSE: When was the last time you saw her?

NOEMI: (Through interpreter) I was 10 years old.

ROSE: The Remain in Mexico policy, officially known as the Migrant Protection Protocols¹², began earlier this year. More than 15,000 migrants have been returned, according to Mexico, mostly to Juarez and Tijuana.

Many of these asylum-seekers will ultimately lose their cases. Two out of 3 are denied, on average. The Trump administration says they're gaming the system by getting into the U.S. with a frivolous¹³ asylum claim and then skipping immigration court hearings and disappearing into the country. Administration officials say Remain in Mexico is discouraging migrants from even trying to cross.

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KEVIN MCALEENAN: The time to address the fundamental drivers of this crisis is now.

ROSE: That's acting¹⁴ Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan speaking to reporters last week. He says border crossings in June are on pace to drop compared with the month before, when a record number of migrant families and children crossed the border.

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MCALEENAN: These initiatives are making an impact, and we are now anticipating a significant reduction in border crossing numbers for June.

ROSE: DHS did not respond to questions about the separation of children and their relatives. It's not a brand-new policy to separate children from family members who are not their parents or legal guardians¹⁵. It happened under President Obama, as well. The policy is intended to prevent child trafficking. But immigration lawyers say these migrants are the real guardians, even if they don't have the paperwork to prove it. And now they're stranded¹⁶ in Mexico with little or no money and no way to support themselves.

TAYLOR LEVY¹⁷: The vast majority of people being sent back are not staying in the shelters. They don't have access to cellphones. We can't find them. No matter how many nonprofits we contact, we simply cannot find these people.

ROSE: Taylor Levy is an immigration lawyer in El Paso. We spoke¹⁸ on the International Bridge in Juarez. Levy tries to help these migrants in Mexico. And sometimes, she needs their help to reunite migrant children with their relatives in the U.S. because the kids don't always know where they're trying to go.

LEVY: The little children don't know who to call. They don't know the phone numbers. They don't have them memorized. Maybe the teenagers do, but a lot of the little children don't. And they're inconsolable.

ALEJANDRINA: (Through interpreter) I don't think it's fair. I feel like they are dividing us.

ROSE: Alejandrina (ph) fled to the U.S. from Honduras, where she says she was attacked because she's openly gay. She doesn't want to use her full name because she's still afraid. She has visible scars on her arm and body from when a cousin attacked her with a machete after she came out to her family.

ALEJANDRINA: (Through interpreter) When I was 14, I got this because I called myself gay. First, he hit me on the head, then the hand.

ROSE: Alejandrina and her partner decided¹⁹ to leave Honduras this year, when a member of her partner's family threatened both of them with violence. Alejandrina left in a hurry. Her partner followed later with their son, who is 6. They were allowed into the U.S., but Alejandrina was sent back to Mexico. She says the whole process seems arbitrary.

ALEJANDRINA: (Through interpreter) The system is complicated. Sometimes people are allowed to get in and others not. I didn't even get a chance to speak, to make my case and tell them why I'm migrating. We all have the right to that opportunity.

ROSE: In one sense, Alejandrina is lucky. She's found a lawyer, something few migrants in Juarez can say. Alejandrina's lawyer thinks she and her partner have strong asylum cases, partly because they can back up each other's claims. But it won't be easy to build those cases when they're separated by a thousand miles and an international border.

Joel Rose, NPR News, Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

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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 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。

3 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。

4 cinder   

n.余烬，矿渣

参考例句：

• The new technology for the preparation of superfine ferric oxide from pyrite cinder is studied.研究了用硫铁矿烧渣为原料，制取超细氧化铁红的新工艺。
• The cinder contains useful iron,down from producing sulphuric acid by contact process.接触法制硫酸的矿渣中含有铁矿。

5 jeopardize   

vt.危及，损害

参考例句：

• Overworking can jeopardize your health.工作过量可能会危及你的健康。
• If you are rude to the boss it may jeopardize your chances of success.如果你对上司无礼，那就可能断送你成功的机会。

6 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。

7 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

8 horrified   

a.(表现出)恐惧的

参考例句：

• The whole country was horrified by the killings. 全国都对这些凶杀案感到大为震惊。
• We were horrified at the conditions prevailing in local prisons. 地方监狱的普遍状况让我们震惊。

9 siblings   

n.兄弟，姐妹( sibling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A triplet sleeps amongst its two siblings. 一个三胞胎睡在其两个同胞之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She has no way of tracking the donor or her half-siblings down. 她没办法找到那个捐精者或她的兄弟姐妹。 来自时文部分

10 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。

11 infancy   

n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期

参考例句：

• He came to England in his infancy.他幼年时期来到英国。
• Their research is only in its infancy.他们的研究处于初级阶段。

12 protocols   

n.礼仪( protocol的名词复数 )；（外交条约的）草案；（数据传递的）协议；科学实验报告（或计划）

参考例句：

• There are also protocols on the testing of nuclear weapons. 也有关于核武器试验的协议。 来自辞典例句
• Hardware components and software design of network transport protocols are separately introduced. 介绍系统硬件组成及网络传输协议的软件设计。 来自互联网

13 frivolous   

adj.轻薄的；轻率的

参考例句：

• This is a frivolous way of attacking the problem.这是一种轻率敷衍的处理问题的方式。
• He spent a lot of his money on frivolous things.他在一些无聊的事上花了好多钱。

14 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。

15 guardians   

监护人( guardian的名词复数 )； 保护者，维护者

参考例句：

• Farmers should be guardians of the countryside. 农民应是乡村的保卫者。
• The police are guardians of law and order. 警察是法律和秩序的护卫者。

16 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

17 levy   

n.征收税或其他款项，征收额

参考例句：

• They levy a tax on him.他们向他征税。
• A direct food levy was imposed by the local government.地方政府征收了食品税。

18 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。

19 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。