美国国家公共电台 NPR--Why some Democrats are on board with busing migrants away from border states

Why some Democrats¹ are on board with busing migrants away from border states

Transcript²

Republican governors have been transporting migrants out of states near the southern border. Some Democrats who first opposed it are now saying it's a humanitarian³ service, not a political statement.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

When Texas and Arizona's Republican governors began busing immigrants out of their states last year, they said it was in protest of the Democrats' federal immigration policies. At the time, Democrats railed against the practice, especially when migrants were misled about where they were going. Now NPR's Laura Benshoff reports on why some Democrats have adopted busing too.

LAURA BENSHOFF, BYLINE⁵: It's cold, dark and very early when buses from the southern border pull up in Philadelphia. It's one of the cities led by Democrats where Texas Governor Greg Abbott has been dropping off immigrants.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Non-English language spoken).

BENSHOFF: City and nonprofit staff greet the passengers. Some shuffle⁶ on to a waiting city bus where there are blankets and hot coffee. A woman named Selena (ph) is not done traveling yet, though she already had a very long ride.

SELENA: (Non-English language spoken).

BENSHOFF: NPR has agreed not to use her full name because her immigration case is pending⁷. She's Dominican but had been living in Chile.

SELENA: (Non-English language spoken).

BENSHOFF: Selena says she took this bus because she didn't know it otherwise would have cost her 500 bucks⁸ to get here from the border. Now she's got one more bus to catch to meet her brother-in-law in New Jersey⁹. When these trips started last year, Republicans like Abbott said they were just responding to the, quote-unquote, "reckless border policies." Democrats criticized the tactic¹⁰ as dehumanizing to migrants and chaotic¹¹ for the receiving cities. But Muzaffar Chishti, a senior fellow at the Migration⁴ Policy Institute, says people have always traveled within the U.S. once they apply for asylum¹² at the border.

MUZAFFAR CHISHTI: People would typically move to a family connection or to a business connection, and they would send them a bus ticket from the border town to come and travel.

BENSHOFF: But in 2022, Customs and Border Protection encountered a record number of people trying to come to the U.S. While many were expelled, the nonprofits and aid groups at the border had trouble meeting basic needs for all of the arrivals. Chishti says while busing was originally viewed as a political response, that started to change.

CHISHTI: Something that looked like a punitive¹³ thing towards immigrants, done for political gains, suddenly turned itself on their head because migrants are rational people. They realized, my God, this is actually a free ticket.

BENSHOFF: Busing, it turns out, can be helpful to migrants and border communities. Cities and states led by Democrats started joining in with some tweaks. In December, thousands of people from the border started showing up in Denver.

JOSH ROSENBLUM: We had no indication this was going to happen.

BENSHOFF: Josh Rosenblum is a city spokesperson. Denver set up shelters, but that month it also bought individual bus tickets for 1,900 people, helping¹⁴ them get to 35 states. Here's Rosenblum again.

ROSENBLUM: It goes along with food and shelter and clothes and toiletries. Those bus tickets are part of this huge humanitarian effort.

BENSHOFF: But the politics are still tricky¹⁵. Colorado's Democratic governor started chartering buses from Denver to other cities. But the mayors of Chicago and New York asked him to stop, saying they were already overburdened. In Arizona, the new Democratic governor, Katie Hobbs, says she's going to keep but update the busing program started by her Republican predecessor¹⁶.

KATIE HOBBS: I think we need to look at that practice and make sure that it's effective. If we're spending the money to bus people, why not just get them to their final destination?

BENSHOFF: She may have time to work on that update. Preliminary federal data show a drop in the number of people crossing into the U.S. so far this year.

Laura Benshoff, NPR News, Philadelphia.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

1 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 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。

3 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

4 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。

5 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。

6 shuffle   

n.拖著脚走，洗纸牌；v.拖曳，慢吞吞地走

参考例句：

• I wish you'd remember to shuffle before you deal.我希望在你发牌前记得洗牌。
• Don't shuffle your feet along.别拖着脚步走。

7 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。

8 bucks   

n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃

参考例句：

• They cost ten bucks. 这些值十元钱。
• They are hunting for bucks. 他们正在猎雄兔。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

10 tactic   

n.战略，策略；adj.战术的，有策略的

参考例句：

• Reducing prices is a common sales tactic.降价是常用的销售策略。
• She had often used the tactic of threatening to resign.她惯用以辞职相威胁的手法。

11 chaotic   

adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的

参考例句：

• Things have been getting chaotic in the office recently.最近办公室的情况越来越乱了。
• The traffic in the city was chaotic.这城市的交通糟透了。

12 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。

13 punitive   

adj.惩罚的，刑罚的

参考例句：

• They took punitive measures against the whole gang.他们对整帮人采取惩罚性措施。
• The punitive tariff was imposed to discourage tire imports from China.该惩罚性关税的征收是用以限制中国轮胎进口的措施。

14 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

15 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

16 predecessor   

n.前辈，前任

参考例句：

• It will share the fate of its predecessor.它将遭受与前者同样的命运。
• The new ambassador is more mature than his predecessor.新大使比他的前任更成熟一些。