美国国家公共电台 NPR--The Trump-era immigration policy 'Remain in Mexico' is ending

The Trump¹-era immigration policy 'Remain in Mexico' is ending

Transcript³

NPR's A Martinez talks to Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy director of the American Immigration Council, about the end of the policy that had asylum⁴-seekers had waiting in Mexico for court hearings.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

The Department of Homeland Security says it's committed to ending the Remain in Mexico immigration policy in what it says will be a quick and orderly way. A long federal court battle ended Monday when a judge lifted his injunction. The Trump-era policy required thousands of asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico until their court hearings in the U.S. So what does this mean for migrants on the southern border and for future immigration policies? Aaron Reichlin-Melnick is the policy director of the American Immigration Council. Aaron, what can asylum-seekers expect in the short term?

AARON REICHLIN-MELNICK: In the short term, the Department of Homeland Security has said that for the roughly 4,000 to 5,000 people that were returned under the restarted program that began in December, those individuals will be allowed to reenter the country on the date of their next court hearings and seek asylum in safety from inside the United States, not in dangerous conditions in northern Mexico.

MART?NEZ: So just to be clear, they can stay in the United States while this process is happening.

REICHLIN-MELNICK: That's right.

MART?NEZ: OK. So what about - there were 70,000 migrants under President Trump who were subjected to this policy. What happened to them?

REICHLIN-MELNICK: Most of those individuals already had their cases terminated before the Biden administration suspended the program in January 2021. During 2021, the Biden administration brought about 13,000 of those people back to the United States who still had pending⁶ cases and allowed them also to seek safety. But now, about three years after the program first began, we really don't know what'd happened to those who didn't get in during that first wind-down process. Some of them may still be in Mexico. Some may have gone back to their home countries. And some may have entered the United States across the border and be living in the country undocumented.

MART?NEZ: Now, critics of the policy said it was inhumane. So what did asylum-seekers risk by staying in Mexico?

REICHLIN-MELNICK: Under the Remain in Mexico program, people were essentially⁷ forced to run a gauntlet of kidnappers⁸ just to make it to the courthouse door. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of documented instances of cases where people were ordered removed, ordered deported⁹ and lost their cases for missing court when they were in the arms of their kidnappers at the time and being held for ransom¹⁰. There are thousands of instances of publicly documented cases of violence, assaults, kidnapping, rapes¹¹ and even murders against people that the United States sent back under the Remain in Mexico program. So for those put into this program, which was formerly¹² called the Migrant Protection Protocol¹³, there was no protection offered. It was simply throwing people to the lion's den⁵.

MART?NEZ: Now, Remain in Mexico may be over. Title 42, though, remains¹⁴. That's the public health order that Donald Trump invoked¹⁵ to stop migrants at the border and in some cases send them back to the country they're from. Aaron, does Title 42 effectively keep the spirit of Trump's administration's immigration policies firmly in place?

REICHLIN-MELNICK: For the last two years, the Remain in Mexico program has really been a minor¹⁶ side program compared to Title 42. Less than 1% of people being encountered at the border since December were sent back to Mexico under Remain in Mexico. By contrast, since March of 2020, CBP agents have carried out more than 2.2 million Title 42 expulsions. And for some groups such as Mexican, Guatemalan, Honduran and Salvadoran nationals, at times upwards¹⁷ of 90% of people crossing have been expelled back to Mexico. Though, for other groups, like Cuban, Venezuelan and Nicaraguan refugees, Title 42 is largely impossible to use on them. And barely any of them are subject to the program because Mexico won't take those individuals and neither will their home countries. But the biggest impact for asylum-seekers with Title 42 has been the closure of the ports of entry to most people. That meant that anyone who wanted to seek asylum over the last two years was effectively forced to cross the border between ports of entry, exactly what we should be incentivizing.

MART?NEZ: Yeah. The asylum claims don't need to be heard under 42, right?

REICHLIN-MELNICK: That's right. A person who is expelled under Title 42 is completely denied any chance to seek asylum as compared to the Remain in Mexico program, where at least there was a fig¹⁸ leaf of a chance to seek protection.

MART?NEZ: And just to be clear, it's - U.S. law guarantees the right to seek asylum. So 42 completely goes against that.

REICHLIN-MELNICK: That's right. And in fact, a federal court in Washington, D.C., ruled that it was actually a violation¹⁹ of our laws and international treaties to expel people to a country to which they would be persecuted²⁰ and ordered that the certain family members who were subject to expulsions have at least a right to claim that they would be persecuted in the country to which they'd be expelled, giving them a chance for some minimal²¹ asylum screenings. But even those screenings are far less than what are normally offered under U.S. law.

MART?NEZ: Yeah, we could probably talk about this for a long time, but we got about a minute left. What would you say are the biggest priorities for the United States immigration policy right now to fix or to maybe iron out?

REICHLIN-MELNICK: We are now multiple years into an unprecedented²² time of mass displacement²³ and refugee flows. But the laws with which we're responding to this crisis are outdated²⁴ and flawed. We last updated our legal immigration system 32 years ago in 1990, before the first website even went online. And the last time we overhauled²⁵ our asylum system was 1996. In other words, we're facing a 21st-century challenge with 20th-century laws. Now, some people say we can simply crack down harder, build the wall, send everyone back to Mexico and wash our hands of asylum. But the history of the last century shows us that it's only long-term solutions which truly reduce migration², like addressing root causes and expanding legal pathways to migrate.

MART?NEZ: Aaron Reichlin-Melnick of the American Immigration Council. Aaron, thanks.

REICHLIN-MELNICK: Thank you for having me.

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 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。

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 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。

5 den   

n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室

参考例句：

• There is a big fox den on the back hill.后山有一个很大的狐狸窝。
• The only way to catch tiger cubs is to go into tiger's den.不入虎穴焉得虎子。

6 pending   

prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的

参考例句：

• The lawsuit is still pending in the state court.这案子仍在州法庭等待定夺。
• He knew my examination was pending.他知道我就要考试了。

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 kidnappers   

n.拐子，绑匪( kidnapper的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They were freed yesterday by their kidnappers unharmed. 他们昨天被绑架者释放了，没有受到伤害。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The kidnappers had threatened to behead all four unless their jailed comrades were released. 帮匪们曾经威胁说如果印度方面不释放他们的同伙，他们就要将这四名人质全部斩首。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 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》

10 ransom   

n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救

参考例句：

• We'd better arrange the ransom right away.我们最好马上把索取赎金的事安排好。
• The kidnappers exacted a ransom of 10000 from the family.绑架者向这家人家勒索10000英镑的赎金。

11 rapes   

n.芸苔( rape的名词复数 )；强奸罪；强奸案；肆意损坏v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的第三人称单数 )；强奸

参考例句：

• The man who had committed several rapes was arrested. 那个犯了多起强奸案的男人被抓起来了。 来自辞典例句
• The incidence of reported rapes rose 0.8 percent. 美国联邦调查局还发布了两份特别报告。 来自互联网

12 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。

13 protocol   

n.议定书，草约，会谈记录，外交礼节

参考例句：

• We must observe the correct protocol.我们必须遵守应有的礼仪。
• The statesmen signed a protocol.那些政治家签了议定书。

14 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

15 invoked   

v.援引( invoke的过去式和过去分词 )；行使（权利等）；祈求救助；恳求

参考例句：

• It is unlikely that libel laws will be invoked. 不大可能诉诸诽谤法。
• She had invoked the law in her own defence. 她援引法律为自己辩护。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

17 upwards   

adv.向上，在更高处...以上

参考例句：

• The trend of prices is still upwards.物价的趋向是仍在上涨。
• The smoke rose straight upwards.烟一直向上升。

18 fig   

n.无花果(树)

参考例句：

• The doctor finished the fig he had been eating and selected another.这位医生吃完了嘴里的无花果，又挑了一个。
• You can't find a person who doesn't know fig in the United States.你找不到任何一个在美国的人不知道无花果的。

19 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

20 persecuted   

（尤指宗教或政治信仰的）迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的过去式和过去分词 )； 烦扰，困扰或骚扰某人

参考例句：

• Throughout history, people have been persecuted for their religious beliefs. 人们因宗教信仰而受迫害的情况贯穿了整个历史。
• Members of these sects are ruthlessly persecuted and suppressed. 这些教派的成员遭到了残酷的迫害和镇压。

21 minimal   

adj.尽可能少的，最小的

参考例句：

• They referred to this kind of art as minimal art.他们把这种艺术叫微型艺术。
• I stayed with friends, so my expenses were minimal.我住在朋友家，所以我的花费很小。

22 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

23 displacement   

n.移置，取代，位移，排水量

参考例句：

• They said that time is the feeling of spatial displacement.他们说时间是空间位移的感觉。
• The displacement of all my energy into caring for the baby.我所有精力都放在了照顾宝宝上。

24 outdated   

adj.旧式的，落伍的，过时的；v.使过时

参考例句：

• That list of addresses is outdated,many have changed.那个通讯录已经没用了，许多地址已经改了。
• Many of us conform to the outdated customs laid down by our forebears.我们许多人都遵循祖先立下的过时习俗。

25 overhauled   

v.彻底检查( overhaul的过去式和过去分词 )；大修；赶上；超越

参考例句：

• Within a year the party had drastically overhauled its structure. 一年内这个政党已大刀阔斧地整顿了结构。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A mechanic overhauled the car's motor with some new parts. 一个修理工对那辆汽车的发动机进行了彻底的检修，换了一些新部件。 来自《简明英汉词典》