美国国家公共电台 NPR ICE Has Arrested More Than 400 In Operation Targeting Parents Who Pay Smugglers

 

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has arrested hundreds of parents who are in the country illegally. They are suspected of paying smugglers to bring their children to the U.S. Federal officials say those parents are putting their children in danger. Immigrant advocates say this latest crackdown is hampering² efforts to reunite families. NPR's John Burnett reports.

JOHN BURNETT, BYLINE³: Abel Urbina (ph) is a 61-year-old construction worker from Honduras who's living and working illegally in Kenner, La. Earlier this year, he paid a smuggler¹ to bring his son and his daughter, both 17, to live with him. He says they were being threatened by street gangs in their home of San Pedro Sula. Immigration agents interviewed his kids after they were apprehended⁴ at the border. And now they're looking for Urbina.

ABEL URBINA: (Speaking Spanish).

BURNETT: "I see that they're accusing me of being a human smuggler," he says, "because I helped my children."

Urbina says federal agents have come by his house twice, but he was at work both times. He fears his days in the U.S. are numbered. He says his wife died, and he's the sole provider for his teenage children.

URBINA: (Speaking Spanish).

BURNETT: "You can imagine," he says, "they'll be alone."

For the past 10 weeks, ICE has pursued a controversial operation that uses immigrant children to target their undocumented parents and guardians⁵. Investigators⁶ say these adults are aiding and abetting⁷ criminal smuggling⁸ networks. Since the surge began in June, ICE reports it has arrested more than 400 heads of households. Phillip Miller⁹ is with ICE's enforcement and removal operations.

PHILIP MILLER: It's remarkably¹⁰ inhumane to pay to turn your child over to an organization that smuggles¹¹ heroin¹², cocaine¹³ and human beings and say, I trust you to bring me the child. The fact that we're going to take an enforcement action, whether it's criminal or administrative¹⁴, against somebody who would do that, I think, is a good public safety act.

BURNETT: The operation put two federal departments at cross-purposes. There is Health and Human Services, which is charged with taking custody¹⁵ of underage migrants who fled violence and poverty in Central America. The agency finds them trustworthy sponsors, often a family member who lives in the U.S. Then there's Homeland Security, which is charged with shutting down international smuggling rings. One former government official says the enforcement operation is hindering the placement of immigrant children in households because sponsors are afraid to pick up the kids.

ROBERT CAREY: My former government colleagues are telling me that these actions have had a chilling effect on the willingness of sponsors to come forward.

BURNETT: Robert Carey left in January as head of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, the agency in charge of so-called unaccompanied children.

CAREY: It's not an ideal situation for any young person to stay in institutional custody for an extended period of time.

BURNETT: The Office of Refugee Resettlement has been swamped with immigrant children in recent years. From 2014 to June of this year, the agency took in 170,000 unaccompanied kids. By law, the government must feed, shelter and provide medical care for them. ICE says that smugglers cynically¹⁶ take advantage of this hospitality. They know when these young travelers surrender at the border, the U.S. has to accept them and deliver them to a sponsor. That's less work for the smuggler. Jack¹⁷ Stayton (ph) is acting¹⁸ assistant director for Homeland Security Investigations¹⁹.

JACK STAYTON: That's not what the system was ever set up for. The system was set up to ensure the protection of children, not to finish a smuggling conspiracy²⁰.

BURNETT: Last week, more than 300 civil rights groups, churches and others signed a strongly worded letter to Elaine Duke, acting secretary of Homeland Security. They expressed their deep concern over the impact the ICE operation is having on immigrant families. One of the signatories was the Women's Refugee Commission, where Emily Butera is senior program officer.

EMILY BUTERA: If a desperate mother gets a terrified call from her daughter in Honduras, who says that somebody is going to rape²¹ her or kidnap her or kill her, that mother is going to find a way to keep her daughter safe on what she knows is a dangerous journey. And these parents who have acted to try to save their children's lives are now being punished for being a good parent.

BURNETT: Of the more than 400 sponsors arrested, the vast majority have been hit with civil and criminal immigration violations²². Only a handful were charged with a federal smuggling crime. Jennifer Podkul, policy director at Kids in Need of Defense²³, says the arrests of parents have not broken up smuggling rings. They're just another ICE roundup.

JENNIFER PODKUL: Instead, they're really targeting kind of this low-hanging fruit and using children as a tool for immigration enforcement.

BURNETT: As of today, ICE is concluding what it calls the domestic phase of its human smuggling disruption initiative. ICE tells NPR that investigators will now shift their focus to the transnational smuggling organizations that brought the unaccompanied kids to the country. John Burnett, NPR News.

1 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。

2 hampering   

妨碍，束缚，限制( hamper的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• So fraud on cows and development aid is seriously hampering growth. 因此在牛问题上和发展补助上的诈骗严重阻碍了发展。
• Short-termism, carbon-trading, disputing the science-are hampering the implementation of direct economically-led objectives. 短效主义，出售二氧化碳，进行科学辩论，这些都不利于实现以经济为主导的直接目标。

3 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。

4 apprehended   

逮捕，拘押( apprehend的过去式和过去分词 )； 理解

参考例句：

• She apprehended the complicated law very quickly. 她很快理解了复杂的法律。
• The police apprehended the criminal. 警察逮捕了罪犯。

5 guardians   

监护人( guardian的名词复数 )； 保护者，维护者

参考例句：

• Farmers should be guardians of the countryside. 农民应是乡村的保卫者。
• The police are guardians of law and order. 警察是法律和秩序的护卫者。

6 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》

7 abetting   

v.教唆（犯罪）( abet的现在分词 )；煽动；怂恿；支持

参考例句：

• On Earth, unknowingly abetting a criminal doesn't merit this kind of punishment. 在地球上，不知不觉地帮助罪犯并不构成这种惩罚。 来自电影对白
• "By aiding and abetting murder, the Taliban regime is committing murder." 援助和唆使谋杀的塔利班政权与杀人犯同罪。 来自互联网

8 smuggling   

n.走私

参考例句：

• Some claimed that the docker's union fronted for the smuggling ring.某些人声称码头工人工会是走私集团的掩护所。
• The evidence pointed to the existence of an international smuggling network.证据表明很可能有一个国际走私网络存在。

9 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

10 remarkably   

ad.不同寻常地，相当地

参考例句：

• I thought she was remarkably restrained in the circumstances. 我认为她在那种情况下非常克制。
• He made a remarkably swift recovery. 他康复得相当快。

11 smuggles   

v.偷运( smuggle的第三人称单数 )；私运；走私；不按规章地偷带（人或物）

参考例句：

12 heroin   

n.海洛因

参考例句：

• Customs have made their biggest ever seizure of heroin.海关查获了有史以来最大的一批海洛因。
• Heroin has been smuggled out by sea.海洛因已从海上偷运出境。

13 cocaine   

n.可卡因，古柯碱（用作局部麻醉剂）

参考例句：

• That young man is a cocaine addict.那个年轻人吸食可卡因成瘾。
• Don't have cocaine abusively.不可滥服古柯碱。

14 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

15 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

16 cynically   

adv.爱嘲笑地，冷笑地

参考例句：

• "Holding down the receiver,'said Daisy cynically. “挂上话筒在讲。”黛西冷嘲热讽地说。 来自英汉文学 - 盖茨比
• The Democrats sensibly (if cynically) set about closing the God gap. 民主党在明智（有些讽刺）的减少宗教引起的问题。 来自互联网

17 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

18 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

19 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

20 conspiracy   

n.阴谋，密谋，共谋

参考例句：

• The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
• He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。

21 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

22 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

23 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。