密歇根新闻广播 愈加严重的边境问题

This week, a group of faith leaders is taking a caravan¹ of protestors 1,700 miles from Ann Arbor² to the Tornillo detention³ center in Texas.

That's where the federal government is holding hundreds of unaccompanied minors⁵ who crossed the border, many of them illegally. The caravan's main purpose is to call attention to increasingly long detentions⁶ there for children as young as 13.

But along the way, the caravan is highlighting other examples of what activists⁷ call a broken immigration system.

The caravan sets out from the parking lot of Temple Beth Emeth in Ann Arbor, where Josh Whinston is the rabbi. He's brought espresso brownies to hand out to the troops. One by one, the cars leave for the long haul to Texas. By nightfall, the caravan will need to make it to St. Louis, Missouri for the first stop and rally.

The trip came about after Whinston was asked to help an immigrant woman whose three children were taken from her at the border this summer. It took her more than two months to get them back. Hearing her story shook him up.

He'd heard something else that disturbed him that unaccompanied minors were being detained for long periods in a remote tent encampment in Texas.

"So one day, my congregant in Ann Arbor asked me what should we do about Tornillo, it's tearing me up," he says, "I thought, I don't know, I'm doing what you're doing, I'm donating to the ACLU. I don't know what else to tell you. But I knew that I couldn't respond that way, so I said, let's go down, let's see for ourselves, and witness.

Whinston says he and the others could have flown to El Paso, about an hour away from Tornillo. But that didn’t feel right when so many people are traveling hundreds of miles from the opposite direction, to get to the U.S. in hopes of a better life.

He says he understands the immigration system was broken long before President Donald Trump⁸ was elected. But he says now, policies like family separation and proposed policies like indefinite detention seem designed to inflict⁹ the most pain possible.

"That just feels cruel to me," he says. "I believe we can have strong borders and still be compassionate¹⁰ with people, that we can still treat people in a humane¹¹ way. I don't think we are being humane with people."

Whinston scheduled interfaith rallies along the way in part to keep up the spirits of people in the caravan, and in part to get local news coverage¹² of the journey and its mission. At each stop, one or two more people joins the caravan.

At a rally in Indianapolis, Imam Ahmed Alamine tells the crowd that it's wrong for Americans to vilify¹³ immigrants and refugees. After all, he says, most of us have ancestors who were refugees. Noah and Moses, he says, were refugees once, and Jesus and Mohamed.

"We learn from this that being refugee is not a shame," he says. "These are the best of mankind."

The rallies are also an opportunity to show that immigrants face threats throughout the country, not just at the border. Like Minor⁴ Clemente. He came to this country from Guatemala when he was 15, to join his father. He qualified¹⁴ to stay in the U.S. under the DREAM act. One day, ICE knocked on his door, and he let them in, figuring he was in good standing¹⁵. Instead, they put him in cuffs¹⁶, on his wrists, his ankles, and his neck.

An immigration judge eventually decided¹⁷ the case in Clemente's favor, so his story has a happy ending.

But Alex Garcia's story so far does not. Garcia is in sanctuary¹⁸ protection in Christ Church UCC in Maplewood, Missouri, another stop on the journey to Tornillo. The 37-year-old Honduran man came to the U.S. as a young man, got married, and had five kids. He was given a stay of deportation¹⁹ in 2015 and 2016. But that changed after the election.

"I’m struggling to be able to return to my family," he says. "Been here 14 months, sometimes I feel like time has stopped."

The caravan continues to Tulsa, Oklahoma next, then Dallas, then El Paso, and finally, Tornillo, another 1,100 miles. People who couldn't join the caravan will be flying to Texas for the last big rally outside the confines of the detention center which is being expanded to be able to house up to 3,800 unaccompanied minors.

Meanwhile, President Trump this week proposed another change to immigration policy. He says adults and unaccompanied minors who've crossed the border illegally should no longer be permitted to seek asylum²⁰ in the U.S.

1 caravan   

n.大蓬车；活动房屋

参考例句：

• The community adviser gave us a caravan to live in.社区顾问给了我们一间活动住房栖身。
• Geoff connected the caravan to the car.杰弗把旅行用的住屋拖车挂在汽车上。

2 arbor   

n.凉亭；树木

参考例句：

• They sat in the arbor and chatted over tea.他们坐在凉亭里，边喝茶边聊天。
• You may have heard of Arbor Day at school.你可能在学校里听过植树节。

3 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。

4 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。

5 minors   

n.未成年人( minor的名词复数 )；副修科目；小公司；[逻辑学]小前提v.[主美国英语]副修，选修，兼修( minor的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The law forbids shops to sell alcohol to minors. 法律禁止商店向未成年者出售含酒精的饮料。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He had three minors this semester. 这学期他有三门副修科目。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 detentions   

拘留( detention的名词复数 )； 扣押； 监禁； 放学后留校

参考例句：

• Teachers may assign detention tasks as they wish and some detentions have been actually dangerous. 老师可能随心所欲指派关禁闭的形式，有些禁闭事实上很危险。
• Intimidation, beatings and administrative detentions are often enough to prevent them from trying again. 恐吓，拷打和行政拘留足以阻止请愿者二次进京的脚步。

7 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 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。

9 inflict   

vt.(on)把…强加给，使遭受，使承担

参考例句：

• Don't inflict your ideas on me.不要把你的想法强加于我。
• Don't inflict damage on any person.不要伤害任何人。

10 compassionate   

adj.有同情心的，表示同情的

参考例句：

• She is a compassionate person.她是一个有同情心的人。
• The compassionate judge gave the young offender a light sentence.慈悲的法官从轻判处了那个年轻罪犯。

11 humane   

adj.人道的，富有同情心的

参考例句：

• Is it humane to kill animals for food?宰杀牲畜来吃合乎人道吗？
• Their aim is for a more just and humane society.他们的目标是建立一个更加公正、博爱的社会。

12 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

13 vilify   

v.诽谤，中伤

参考例句：

• But I also do not want people to vilify.但希望我也别给人诬蔑。
• Two chose not to vilify Skilling,however.然而，也有两个人并不愿诋毁思斯奇林。

14 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

15 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

16 cuffs   

n.袖口( cuff的名词复数 )v.掌打，拳打( cuff的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• a collar and cuffs of white lace 带白色蕾丝花边的衣领和袖口
• The cuffs of his shirt were fraying. 他衬衣的袖口磨破了。

17 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。

18 sanctuary   

n.圣所，圣堂，寺庙；禁猎区，保护区

参考例句：

• There was a sanctuary of political refugees behind the hospital.医院后面有一个政治难民的避难所。
• Most countries refuse to give sanctuary to people who hijack aeroplanes.大多数国家拒绝对劫机者提供庇护。

19 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。

20 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。