美国国家公共电台 NPR Philadelphia Is Ending A Major Contract With ICE

 

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Philadelphia is ending a major contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Federal immigration agents have long had access to an arrest database maintained by local authorities there. But activists² and now top city officials say ICE uses the information to target migrants. As Bobby Allyn reports, this is the latest win for immigration rights activists who are making a nationwide push to sever³ ties with ICE.

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UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (Chanting) Hey, hey. Ho, ho. ICE and PARS⁴ have got to go.

BOBBY ALLYN, BYLINE⁵: For weeks outside of Philadelphia City Hall, dozens of Occupy ICE demonstrators have been camping out. They erected⁶ large tents and hung up big signs that read, end PARS. That's the acronym⁷ for a database local police use to keep track of everyone they're interacting with. Occupiers have been meeting privately⁸ with Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney. They said immigration enforcement officials use the database as a way to fish for unauthorized immigrants, many never having been convicted of a crime. Kenney says, no more.

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JIM KENNEY: If I could abolish ICE, I would. But we can abolish this contract, and we are.

ALLYN: The announcement means the city will not renew the decade-long deal with ICE once it expires this fall. Through the system, ICE can access a suspect's full name, birth country and detention⁹ status but not whether someone is in the country legally or not. Kenney accuses federal agents of doing guesswork to racially profile city residents.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

KENNEY: Because a person's name is Lopez or some other Hispanic name, you're going to go to their house and then take people out of their home? I mean, it just makes no sense, and I never want to be part of this.

ALLYN: Federal immigration enforcement officials are not pleased. An ICE spokesman noted¹⁰ in a statement that Philadelphia's sanctuary¹¹ city status already makes enforcing the country's immigration laws challenging. The city doesn't hold onto those suspected of being in the country illegally for ICE unless there's a judicial¹² warrant. The ICE spokesman said ending the database access, quote, adds insult to injury by needlessly compromising public safety.

PETER SPIRO: The immigrant advocate groups are clearly winning significant battles at the local level, and this is counted now among them.

ALLYN: Peter Spiro teaches immigration law at Temple University.

SPIRO: Immigrant advocates have nowhere to go in Washington these days, either with the administration or in Congress. They're trying to exercise these other pressure points.

ALLYN: And it's not just protesters banging on outside of city halls. Activists on college campuses from Baltimore to California have launched campaigns for universities to end contracts with ICE. It's growing among private companies, too. Microsoft employees recently gave the company's chief executive a petition asking that a software contract with ICE be terminated. Back at the encampment, activist¹ Mara Henao, who was born in Colombia, says since President Trump's zero-tolerance policy on immigration started escalating¹³, life for many of her family and friends has become distressing¹⁴. She says blocking ICE's access to the database can help them worry less.

MARA HENAO: It's important because, like, all we want to do is be able to have a normal life.

ALLYN: Henao has legal status, but she says that hasn't stopped her family from discussing how they'd go into hiding if she was targeted.

HENAO: We talk about this. It's, like, what if someday they come for you, Mara? What are we going to do? Do we send the kids to my mom? If you're - like, it's, like, all these things, you know, that, why am I have to worry about this?

ALLYN: Department of Homeland Security officials told NPR that immigration officials will, quote, continue to work to remove illegal aliens and uphold public safety in Philadelphia. Not renewing the database contract - DHS called that irresponsible.

Bobby Allyn, NPR News, Philadelphia.

1 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

2 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》

3 sever   

v.切开，割开；断绝，中断

参考例句：

• She wanted to sever all her connections with the firm.她想断绝和那家公司的所有联系。
• We must never sever the cultural vein of our nation.我们不能割断民族的文化血脉。

4 pars   

n.部，部分；平均( par的名词复数 )；平价；同等；（高尔夫球中的）标准杆数

参考例句：

• In humans, the pars intermedia is a rudimentary region. 人的脑垂体中间部是不发达的。 来自辞典例句
• James Gregory gave in in his "Geometriae Pars Universalis" a method of rectifying curves. James Gregory在他的《几何的通用部分》中给出了计算曲线长度的方法。 来自辞典例句

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 ERECTED   

adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立

参考例句：

• A monument to him was erected in St Paul's Cathedral. 在圣保罗大教堂为他修了一座纪念碑。
• A monument was erected to the memory of that great scientist. 树立了一块纪念碑纪念那位伟大的科学家。

7 acronym   

n.首字母简略词，简称

参考例句：

• That's a mouthful of an acronym for a very simple technology.对于一项非常简单的技术来说，这是一个很绕口的缩写词。
• TSDF is an acronym for Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities.TSDF是处理，储存和处置设施的一个缩写。

8 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

9 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。

10 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

11 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。

12 judicial   

adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的

参考例句：

• He is a man with a judicial mind.他是个公正的人。
• Tom takes judicial proceedings against his father.汤姆对他的父亲正式提出诉讼。

13 escalating   

v.（使）逐步升级( escalate的现在分词 )；（使）逐步扩大；（使）更高；（使）更大

参考例句：

• The cost of living is escalating. 生活费用在迅速上涨。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The cost of living is escalating in the country. 这个国家的生活费用在上涨。 来自辞典例句

14 distressing   

a.使人痛苦的

参考例句：

• All who saw the distressing scene revolted against it. 所有看到这种悲惨景象的人都对此感到难过。
• It is distressing to see food being wasted like this. 这样浪费粮食令人痛心。