美国国家公共电台 NPR--After Del Rio, some Haitian migrants found safety in the U.S. But many have not

After Del Rio, some Haitian migrants found safety in the U.S. But many have not

Transcript¹

In the chaos² of a squalid migrant camp in Del Rio, Texas, last year, Esther was desperate. Her 15-month-old son was sick and hungry.

There wasn't enough food in the camp, so she went back across the river to Mexico to buy some. When she tried to return to the camp on the Texas side of the river, Esther says, she was threatened by Border Patrol officers on horseback.

"There were horses, and the way they were talking to us, asking questions and riding up to us, telling us, 'Go back to Mexico. Go back to Mexico,'" she said by phone in Haitian Creole through an interpreter.

Photographs and video of Border Patrol agents on horseback trying to corral a crowd of Black migrants sparked outrage³ all the way up to the White House.

Nearly a year later, some of those Haitian migrants have found their way to safety in the United States — but thousands more have not. And advocates say no one has been held accountable for how they were treated by immigration authorities in the camp in Del Rio, or in the months since.

Esther is not the woman's real name, but NPR is using it because that's how she's identified in a lawsuit⁴ filed last year on behalf of a group of Haitian migrants who were in Del Rio. Like many of the migrants, Esther says she traveled there from Chile, where she'd been living with her husband and son.

She was among roughly 15,000 Haitian migrants who crossed the border illegally within a few days of each other last September and found themselves confined in a squalid camp on the banks of the Rio Grande.

Esther says she tried to get medical treatment for her son, who was suffering from fever and diarrhea, in the Del Rio camp. But she says medical staff there gave her only water and syrup⁵ that didn't seem to help.

The incident involving Border Patrol agents on horseback prompted an internal investigation⁶ by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

"Not everyone's going to like all the findings," said CBP commissioner⁷ Chris Magnus when he announced the findings at a news conference in July, "but the investigation was comprehensive and fair."

Investigators⁸ found no evidence that the agents on horseback struck any migrants with their horses' reins⁹, "intentionally¹⁰ or otherwise." But their report concludes that some officers on horseback used "unnecessary" force and verbally abused the migrants.

"There is no justification¹¹ for the actions of some of our personnel, including unprofessional and deeply offensive conduct," Magnus said at the time.

A disciplinary review board recommended action against four Border Patrol agents, Magnus said, although no details about their punishment have been announced.

But Haitian migrants and their advocates say that report is not credible¹², because investigators didn't talk to a key group of witnesses: the migrants themselves.

"I was shocked when I received word that the report was coming out and when I read the findings," said Nicole Phillips, the legal director of Haitian Bridge Alliance.

The organization, along with other advocacy groups including the Justice Action Center, is suing the Biden administration on behalf of Esther and other migrants.

CBP investigators included filings from that lawsuit as an exhibit in their 500-page report. But Phillips says they never contacted or interviewed the migrants directly.

Phillips says the official report contains some important inaccuracies. For example, she says, Border patrol agents did strike migrants with their horses' reins. She's also disappointed that investigators focused only on the incident with the horse patrols, while basically ignoring the squalid conditions in the camp.

"There was no investigation into that," she said. "The lack of food, the lack of water, the lack of medical care. And that's what's also really disappointing."

In the confusion at Del Rio, several thousand migrants were released directly into the United States. Thousands more were deported¹³ to Haiti, including two of Esther's sisters, who had also been in the camp.

Once Esther and her husband understood what was happening, they had to make a choice. They could still try to ask for asylum¹⁴ in the United States. But they didn't want to risk being deported to Haiti, where she said her life had been threatened because of her family's political connections.

"What we were thinking was we couldn't go back to Haiti because of the problems we knew were happening in Haiti," she said. "I didn't want to get deported, and that's why we chose to go back to Mexico."

Esther and her family decided¹⁵ to cross the river back into Mexico, where they received medical treatment for their son, as well as legal help. Months later, they were allowed into the United States to seek asylum. They're now in Florida, living with her husband's family.

But they know that many other Haitians weren't so lucky. The United States has deported more than 20,000 people back to Haiti since last September, though the pace of deportation¹⁶ flights has declined sharply since June.

"That was hard really because when you think about all the effort you made to get there and it's just gone," said a man who's identified as Jacques in the lawsuit against the Biden administration.

Jacques was also in Del Rio last year, hoping to apply for asylum. Instead he was deported back to Haiti. Now he's hiding in the countryside to avoid the gang that drove him to leave the country in the first place, and says he only travels at night to avoid attention.

"Day by day things are getting worse," he said by phone in Haitian Creole through an interpreter. "When you think things are getting better, things get worse. But, you know, we have to be resilient because there is nothing else we can do. We can just be cautious."

Jacques says he's just trying to survive until he can find a way to get out of Haiti again.

1 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。

2 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

3 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

4 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

5 syrup   

n.糖浆，糖水

参考例句：

• I skimmed the foam from the boiling syrup.我撇去了煮沸糖浆上的泡沫。
• Tinned fruit usually has a lot of syrup with it.罐头水果通常都有许多糖浆。

6 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

7 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

8 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 reins   

感情，激情； 缰( rein的名词复数 )； 控制手段； 掌管； （成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的）保护带

参考例句：

• She pulled gently on the reins. 她轻轻地拉着缰绳。
• The government has imposed strict reins on the import of luxury goods. 政府对奢侈品的进口有严格的控制手段。

10 intentionally   

ad.故意地，有意地

参考例句：

• I didn't say it intentionally. 我是无心说的。
• The local authority ruled that he had made himself intentionally homeless and was therefore not entitled to be rehoused. 当地政府裁定他是有意居无定所，因此没有资格再获得提供住房。

11 justification   

n.正当的理由；辩解的理由

参考例句：

• There's no justification for dividing the company into smaller units. 没有理由把公司划分成小单位。
• In the young there is a justification for this feeling. 在年轻人中有这种感觉是有理由的。

12 credible   

adj.可信任的，可靠的

参考例句：

• The news report is hardly credible.这则新闻报道令人难以置信。
• Is there a credible alternative to the nuclear deterrent?是否有可以取代核威慑力量的可靠办法？

13 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》

14 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。

15 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。

16 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。