美国国家公共电台 NPR A Toddler's Death Adds To Concerns About Migrant Detention

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The Trump¹ administration has ended the official policy of separating migrant families and housing children apart from their detained parents. Now the administration says it wants to detain more migrant families together rather than releasing them to await immigration court hearings. Doctors warn, however, that children face significant risk of harm while they're in detention². NPR's Joel Rose has the story of one toddler who died after being held at a family detention center in Texas.

JOEL ROSE, BYLINE³: Yazmin Juarez and her daughter Mariee were among thousands of families fleeing violence and turmoil⁴ in Central America to seek asylum⁵ in the U.S. They crossed the Rio Grande illegally into Texas in March.

STANTON JONES: Mariee was a completely normal, healthy, happy 18-month-old little girl when they arrived in the United States.

ROSE: Stanton Jones is a lawyer with Arnold & Porter, the firm that's representing Mariee's mother. He says the little girl and her mother were placed in the custody⁶ of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, and taken to the South Texas Family Residential⁷ Center in Dilley. It's the largest family detention center in the country with 2,400 beds for mothers and their children. Within a week, Jones says, Mariee got sick.

JONES: Starting with congestion⁸, cough, runny nose - but then quickly, her condition deteriorated⁹, and she had a fever over 104 degrees.

ROSE: Juarez tried to get help from the medical staff in Dilley, but Jones says they didn't take her seriously. And Mariee's respiratory infection got worse. Bernard Dreyer is the head of pediatrics at Bellevue Hospital in New York and past president of the American Academy of Pediatrics. He reviewed Mariee's medical records from Dilley at the request of her mother's lawyers.

BERNARD DREYER: When a child has fevers and respiratory symptoms for, you know, weeks, they should be sent in to an emergency room, and that was never done.

ROSE: According to medical records, Mariee was supposed to see a doctor in Dilley, but that never happened. Immigration authorities determined¹⁰ that the family's asylum claim could move forward and released them. They flew to New Jersey¹¹ to stay with relatives. Juarez took Mariee to the emergency room the next day. Mariee spent the next six weeks in hospitals before she died of respiratory failure. Dreyer says her condition is treatable if it's caught early.

DREYER: Can we guarantee that if this kid had been sent to a hospital a week earlier it wouldn't have been too late? I can't guarantee that, but very few kids die from pneumonia¹².

ROSE: Lawyers for Yazmin Juarez initiated¹³ legal action on Tuesday when they said they planned to file a wrongful death lawsuit¹⁴ seeking millions in damages. ICE declined comment on the details of Mariee's case. But in a statement, the agency says it's committed to ensuring the welfare of everyone in its custody. On Capitol Hill last month, a top ICE official, Matthew Albence, defended the care at these detention centers.

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MATTHEW ALBENCE: They have extensive medical, dental and mental health opportunities, so I'm very comfortable with the level of service and protection that is being provided.

ROSE: But two doctors contracted by the Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE, were alarmed by the pediatric care they found. In a scathing¹⁶ report last month, they said dangerous symptoms, like weight loss, were ignored, while some children were given adult doses of vaccines¹⁷. Katie Shepherd is a former managing attorney of the Dilley Pro¹⁵ Bono Project, which represents women detained there.

KATHRYN SHEPHERD: I realize how horrific this sounds, but I am surprised that a child or a mother has not died within the walls of the detention center in Dilley.

ROSE: Shepherd and other immigrant rights activists¹⁸ have complained for years about conditions in Dilley. They are deeply alarmed that the Trump administration is seeking to build family detention space for another 15,000 people.

Joel Rose, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE BURNING PARIS' "THE SUN ALSO RISES")

1 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。

2 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。

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 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。

5 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。

6 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。

7 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

8 congestion   

n.阻塞，消化不良

参考例句：

• The congestion in the city gets even worse during the summer.夏天城市交通阻塞尤为严重。
• Parking near the school causes severe traffic congestion.在学校附近泊车会引起严重的交通堵塞。

9 deteriorated   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Her health deteriorated rapidly, and she died shortly afterwards. 她的健康状况急剧恶化，不久便去世了。
• His condition steadily deteriorated. 他的病情恶化，日甚一日。

10 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

11 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。

12 pneumonia   

n.肺炎

参考例句：

• Cage was struck with pneumonia in her youth.凯奇年轻时得过肺炎。
• Pneumonia carried him off last week.肺炎上星期夺去了他的生命。

13 initiated   

n. 创始人 adj. 新加入的 vt. 开始，创始，启蒙，介绍加入

参考例句：

• He has not yet been thoroughly initiated into the mysteries of computers. 他对计算机的奥秘尚未入门。
• The artist initiated the girl into the art world in France. 这个艺术家介绍这个女孩加入巴黎艺术界。

14 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。

15 pro   

n.赞成，赞成的意见，赞成者

参考例句：

• The two debating teams argued the question pro and con.辩论的两组从赞成与反对两方面辩这一问题。
• Are you pro or con nuclear disarmament?你是赞成还是反对核裁军？

16 scathing   

adj.（言词、文章）严厉的，尖刻的；不留情的adv.严厉地，尖刻地v.伤害，损害（尤指使之枯萎）( scathe的现在分词)

参考例句：

• a scathing attack on the new management 针对新的管理层的猛烈抨击
• Her speech was a scathing indictment of the government's record on crime. 她的演讲强烈指责了政府在犯罪问题上的表现。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

18 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》