VOA标准英语2013--Undocumented Immigrants, Some Freed from Detention, Seek Reforms

 

Undocumented Immigrants, Some Freed from Detention¹, Seek Reforms

On a late December night in 2012, U.S. law enforcement agents entered the suburban² Chicago home of Cesar Henriquez, an undocumented immigrant living in the U.S., to arrest him.

His crime was failing to report for deportation³. 

"There was a lot of pain on my family, and my kids. I have two children. They are almost teenagers. There was a lot of sadness in my house," he said.

Henriquez, spent almost 60 days in detention while waiting to be deported⁴, until one early morning in lat January.

"They woke us up at two in the morning, and told us to pack up all of our stuff because we were leaving the facility," he recalled.

He was not sent back to El Salvador, his home country, but to suburban Chicago, where he would wait out deportation in his own home.

"At first I didn’t know why they released us, but somebody told us because Immigration doesn’t have any more money, so they can’t keep us in custody," he said.

Henriquez is one of thousands of undocumented immigrants released in recent months due to budget pressures. At a news conference in February, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano acknowledged that sequestration would bring problems to her agency.

"Under sequestration, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement will be forced to reduce detention and removal and would not be able to retain the 34,000 detention beds as required by Congress," she said.

Joshua Hoyt, an executive for the Illinois Coalition⁵ for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, says he was surprised by the decision.

"If we are spending more than 18 billion dollars a year on incarcerating⁶ immigrants, hunting them down, stopping them at the border, we’re wasting a lot of money," he said.

Hoyt says long-term savings⁷ on immigration enforcement could come with bipartisan legislation on immigration reform lawmakers currently seek.

"The entire country is now talking about immigration reform, and many of these people would be able to stay, and their families need not be destroyed uselessly," he said.

Cesar Henriquez wants lawmakers to reach a deal before December, when he expects to be deported.

"My message for the president is to stop deporting⁸ people and let everybody who has no criminal problems, let them go free," he said.

If he is forced to leave, Henriquez says he will spend the money needed to hire a "coyote," or smuggler⁹, to get him back inside the U.S. so he can be reunited with this family. 

1 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。

2 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

3 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。

4 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》

5 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

6 incarcerating   

vt.监禁，禁闭（incarcerate的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

7 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

8 deporting   

v.将…驱逐出境( deport的现在分词 )；举止

参考例句：

9 smuggler   

n.走私者

参考例句：

• The smuggler is in prison tonight, awaiting extradition to Britain. 这名走私犯今晚在监狱，等待引渡到英国。
• The smuggler was finally obliged to inform against his boss. 那个走私犯最后不得不告发他的首领。