2007年VOA标准英语-Day Laborers Call for End to Immigration Raids

By Mil Arcega
Washingon
06 August 2007
 

More than 200 day laborers³ and advocates from across the United States converged⁴ on Capitol Hill Thursday to call for a moratorium⁵ on immigration raids.   The National Day Laborer² Organizing Network or NDLON sponsored the protest and a four-day convention. The group says raids against day laborers and illegal immigrants have increased because lawmakers cannot agree on a comprehensive immigration reform bill.  They say the system is broken and it is creating hardship for day laborers and their families.  VOA's Mil Arcega reports.

They came to Capitol Hill so that lawmakers could hear their voices. Many are illegal immigrants who say they take jobs Americans do not want.

Pablo Alvarado

Pablo Alvarado is NDLON’s national director. He spoke⁶ to the crowd. "These are the hands that build America. These are the hands that are building this country."

Despite their contributions, Alvarado says day laborers across the country increasingly have become targets of abusive employers, vigilantes and overzealous law enforcement.  He called for an end to immigration raids until lawmakers can fix what he calls the country's "broken immigration system." "If there's one person who knows how broken that immigration system is, that is the day laborer -- the man and the woman who stands in the street corner looking for work to feed their children.  They know how broken that system is."

On any given day, NDLON says some 117,000 day laborers stand on street corners and parking lots looking for work.  Although the demand for the cheap labor¹ they provide is growing, many are caught in the crossfire⁷ of an emotional debate.

Kim Propeack heads an immigrant advocacy group called Casa de Maryland. "When Congress failed to resolve the broken immigration system, there was a real sense that we had to see greater enforcement."

Day laborer Luis Larin says people are scared.  At a raid he says he witnessed in January, Larin says only Latinos were arrested, even though there were people of other nationalities who were also looking for work. "They took the Latinos exclusively, and then they picked up other people who were not looking for work, they were only waiting for a bus."

Samuel did not want his last name used. He says he lives in constant fear of deportation⁸.  "Many times I am treated poorly.  Often, contractors⁹ don't want to pay us.  Sometimes they say they will send immigration officers to our houses.  Some have threatened to kill us."

Although they do not condone¹⁰ violence, some groups justify¹¹ the use of harassment¹² tactics to push an anti-illegal immigrant agenda.  Members of a volunteer group known as the "Minutemen" take pictures of illegals and prospective¹³ employers and send them to federal authorities.  Leaders of the group say Americans must take a strong stand against people who break the law.

But the National Day Laborer Organizing Network's Pablo Alvarado says the rally is not about breaking the law or illegal immigration. "It's about human rights. It's about civil rights. It's about protecting the fundamental values, the greatest patrimony¹⁴ of humanity.  People just need to make a living and feed their kids. We're not trying to make any political statements here, we're just trying to address an issue that's really causing a lot of problems, and that is raids.  They have to stop."

Alvarado says the day laborers' convention in Washington comes at a critical time because the prospects¹⁵ for real immigration reform in Congress appears dim.

1 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

2 laborer   

n.劳动者，劳工

参考例句：

• Her husband had been a farm laborer.她丈夫以前是个农场雇工。
• He worked as a casual laborer and did not earn much.他当临时工，没有赚多少钱。

3 laborers   

n.体力劳动者，工人( laborer的名词复数 )；（熟练工人的）辅助工

参考例句：

• Laborers were trained to handle 50-ton compactors and giant cranes. 工人们接受操作五十吨压土机和巨型起重机的训练。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Wage-labour rests exclusively on competition between the laborers. 雇佣劳动完全是建立在工人的自相竞争之上的。 来自英汉非文学 - 共产党宣言

4 converged   

v.（线条、运动的物体等）会于一点( converge的过去式 )；（趋于）相似或相同；人或车辆汇集；聚集

参考例句：

• Thousands of supporters converged on London for the rally. 成千上万的支持者从四面八方汇聚伦敦举行集会。
• People converged on the political meeting from all parts of the city. 人们从城市的四面八方涌向这次政治集会。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 moratorium   

n.(行动、活动的)暂停(期)，延期偿付

参考例句：

• The government has called for a moratorium on weapons testing.政府已要求暂停武器试验。
• We recommended a moratorium on two particular kinds of experiments.我们建议暂禁两种特殊的实验。

6 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。

7 crossfire   

n.被卷进争端

参考例句：

• They say they are caught in the crossfire between the education establishment and the government.他们称自己被卷进了教育机构与政府之间的争端。
• When two industrial giants clash,small companies can get caught in the crossfire.两大工业企业争斗之下，小公司遭受池鱼之殃。

8 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。

9 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 condone   

v.宽恕；原谅

参考例句：

• I cannot condone the use of violence.我不能宽恕使用暴力的行为。
• I will not condone a course of action that will lead us to war.我绝不允许任何导致战争的行为。

11 justify   

vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护

参考例句：

• He tried to justify his absence with lame excuses.他想用站不住脚的借口为自己的缺席辩解。
• Can you justify your rude behavior to me?你能向我证明你的粗野行为是有道理的吗？

12 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

13 prospective   

adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的

参考例句：

• The story should act as a warning to other prospective buyers.这篇报道应该对其他潜在的购买者起到警示作用。
• They have all these great activities for prospective freshmen.这会举办各种各样的活动来招待未来的新人。

14 patrimony   

n.世袭财产，继承物

参考例句：

• I left my parents' house,relinquished my estate and my patrimony.我离开了父母的家，放弃了我的房产和祖传财产。
• His grandfather left the patrimony to him.他的祖父把祖传的财物留给了他。

15 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。