美国国家公共电台 NPR Watchdogs Cite Lax Medical And Mental Health Treatment Of ICE Detainees

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Today, President Trump¹ put forth² a new idea for how to deal with overflowing³ immigrant detention⁴ centers - send detainees to so-called sanctuary⁵ cities.

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

Let's take a moment to look at the conditions for detainees in one of those facilities - the Adelanto ICE Processing Center. It's a prison-like facility north of San Bernardino, Calif. A disability rights group says it's failing to provide adequate mental health care to detainees. Reporter Sarah Varney tells us more. And just a warning - this story contains mention of suicide.

SARAH VARNEY, BYLINE⁶: It's Saturday morning. The women of the Contreras family are in a rush, making pupusas, tamales and tacos to replace the income of Jose Contreras, who has been held at Adelanto since last June. Jose's daughter Giselle drives around in an aging minivan, collecting food orders - first a hospital, then a carwash...

GISELLE: (Speaking Spanish).

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking Spanish).

VARNEY: ...Then a local bank.

GISELLE: (Speaking Spanish).

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Speaking Spanish).

VARNEY: Giselle's father crossed illegally from Guatemala 25 years ago. He worked in construction until agents picked him up and brought him to Adelanto. Giselle says her father languished⁷ there for three months without his diabetes⁸ medication. Now the guards give it to him at odd times during the day and night. She says ICE agents took his eyeglasses, so he can't read legal documents or write letters.

GISELLE: My aunt tried to take in glasses for him. But they don't allow for us to give them anything. They tell us that they give them everything that they need.

VARNEY: And does your dad have glasses now?

GISELLE: No, he doesn't.

VARNEY: Her father is terrified of being deported⁹. And she says the regimented world inside Adelanto is driving him into a deep depression.

GISELLE: His conversations now have become shorter. He doesn't talk to us I ask, like, how's your day? How you been? He's always looking down at the ground because he just doesn't want to make eye contact for the same reason that he's just so depressed¹⁰.

MARIA CONTRERAS: (Speaking Spanish).

VARNEY: Jose's sister, Maria Contreras, visits her brother every Saturday. She urged him to see a psychologist at Adelanto. But the only thing they tell him, she says, is that he has to wait, or he has to fill out a paper. And he fills out the paper, but he doesn't get any help - no response or anything. Adelanto sits on a desolate¹¹ stretch of road in the high desert. About 2,000 men and women are held here. Some arrived recently during the surge in border crossings. Others lived in the U.S., undocumented and undetected for years. In the visiting room, where detainees are brought in wearing blue, orange or red baggy¹² pants and tops, a sign on the wall reads, don't give up hope.

The facility, run by GEO Group, has a troubled past. Federal and state inspectors¹³ have found detainees are treated like prisoners, even though they haven't been charged with a crime. And they don't receive adequate medical or mental health care. The alleged¹⁴ cases documented in the most recent report by Disability Rights California are grim - detainees slitting¹⁵ their wrists, discontinued medication for depression and ignoring requests for wheelchairs and walkers. In a statement, GEO Group says it strongly disputes the claims in the report and that the remedies recommended by Disability Rights California were already in place. We are deeply committed, the statement reads, to delivering high-quality, culturally responsive services in safe and humane¹⁶ environments. An ICE spokesperson said GEO Group's Adelanto facility is in full compliance¹⁷ with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Mario was inside Adelanto for six months in 2018. He says the report describes his own experiences there.

MARIO: What's happening is, like, all those claims that have been made against GEO and the staff in the medical department are finally being backed up by reports.

VARNEY: Mario asked us not to use his last name, since he's out on bond and still fighting deportation¹⁸. He's 32 and crossed illegally with his parents when he was 5. In 2017, he was convicted of a misdemeanor. And ICE agents picked him up at his home in Ontario, Calif. At the time, he was seeing a therapist for depression and taking medication. It took three weeks to get his antidepressants back. And he says the sessions with the psychologists at Adelanto were brief and cursory¹⁹.

MARIO: They keep their actual sessions to, like, a 5- to 10-minute maximum. And 10 minutes is, like, pushing it. And it's basically just like a quick check-in. They just ask you, like, how are you? Do you have any suicidal thoughts? Like, when is your next court date? So it's super minimal²⁰, almost nonexistent. It's one of those things that I feel that basically is just done to say, all right. We did it.

VARNEY: Mario is gay and lived in a room with three other men, including a gay man from Mexico who was seeking asylum²¹. The men became close friends.

MARIO: He was persecuted²² in Mexico because of being gay. And so he already came with all this trauma²³. You know, and being detained for - at that point, like, four months and not really getting any mental health care really took a toll²⁴ on him. And that's when he cut his wrist with a razor blade from the razors that we get to shave. And after that, he was placed in solitary²⁵ confinement²⁶ for about a week.

VARNEY: Mario says when his friend came back to their room, he was taking some sort of medication.

MARIO: After that, all he did was sleep. Like, whenever the food was ready, I'd go call him, like, hey, wake up. It's time to eat.

VARNEY: I heard this from other detainees and immigration lawyers - that the GEO psychiatrists²⁷ prescribe antipsychotic medications that make people sleep much of the time. It's one of the reasons, Mario said, people were reluctant to seek help. But also, like other detainees, he was worried about being labeled as depressed.

MARIO: I couldn't express whenever I was extremely feeling sad or depressed or anxious because I was afraid that that would be used against me in court.

VARNEY: Judges cannot use mental health conditions to deny legal status, say immigration attorneys. On the day I visited Adelanto, long after GEO Group says it fixed²⁸ any problems, there was a hunger strike. The detainees gave an attorney a handwritten note. And an advocacy group gave me a copy. Chief among their demands was speedier access to good medical care. I'm Sarah Varney in Adelanto, Calif.

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 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

3 overflowing   

n. 溢出物,溢流 adj. 充沛的，充满的 动词overflow的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The stands were overflowing with farm and sideline products. 集市上农副产品非常丰富。
• The milk is overflowing. 牛奶溢出来了。

4 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。

5 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。

6 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。

7 languished   

长期受苦( languish的过去式和过去分词 )； 受折磨； 变得（越来越）衰弱； 因渴望而变得憔悴或闷闷不乐

参考例句：

• Our project languished during the holidays. 我们的计划在假期间推动得松懈了。
• He languished after his dog died. 他狗死之后，人憔悴了。

8 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

9 deported   

v.将…驱逐出境( deport的过去式和过去分词 )；举止

参考例句：

• They stripped me of my citizenship and deported me. 他们剥夺我的公民资格，将我驱逐出境。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The convicts were deported to a deserted island. 罪犯们被流放到一个荒岛。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

11 desolate   

adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂

参考例句：

• The city was burned into a desolate waste.那座城市被烧成一片废墟。
• We all felt absolutely desolate when she left.她走后，我们都觉得万分孤寂。

12 baggy   

adj.膨胀如袋的，宽松下垂的

参考例句：

• My T-shirt went all baggy in the wash.我的T恤越洗越大了。
• Baggy pants are meant to be stylish,not offensive.松松垮垮的裤子意味着时髦，而不是无礼。

13 inspectors   

n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官

参考例句：

• They got into the school in the guise of inspectors. 他们假装成视察员进了学校。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Inspectors checked that there was adequate ventilation. 检查员已检查过，通风良好。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

15 slitting   

n.纵裂（缝）v.切开，撕开( slit的现在分词 )；在…上开狭长口子

参考例句：

• She is slitting a man's throat. 她正在割一个男人的喉咙。 来自辞典例句
• Different side of slitting direction will improve slitting edge and quality. 应用不同靠刀方向修边分条可帮助顺利排料，并获得更好的分条品质。 来自互联网

16 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。

17 compliance   

n.顺从；服从；附和；屈从

参考例句：

• I was surprised by his compliance with these terms.我对他竟然依从了这些条件而感到吃惊。
• She gave up the idea in compliance with his desire.她顺从他的愿望而放弃自己的主意。

18 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。

19 cursory   

adj.粗略的；草率的；匆促的

参考例句：

• He signed with only a cursory glance at the report.他只草草看了一眼报告就签了名。
• The only industry mentioned is agriculture and it is discussed in a cursory sentence.实业方面只谈到农业,而且只是匆匆带了一句。

20 minimal   

adj.尽可能少的，最小的

参考例句：

• They referred to this kind of art as minimal art.他们把这种艺术叫微型艺术。
• I stayed with friends, so my expenses were minimal.我住在朋友家，所以我的花费很小。

21 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。

22 persecuted   

（尤指宗教或政治信仰的）迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的过去式和过去分词 )； 烦扰，困扰或骚扰某人

参考例句：

• Throughout history, people have been persecuted for their religious beliefs. 人们因宗教信仰而受迫害的情况贯穿了整个历史。
• Members of these sects are ruthlessly persecuted and suppressed. 这些教派的成员遭到了残酷的迫害和镇压。

23 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

24 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

25 solitary   

adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士

参考例句：

• I am rather fond of a solitary stroll in the country.我颇喜欢在乡间独自徜徉。
• The castle rises in solitary splendour on the fringe of the desert.这座城堡巍然耸立在沙漠的边际，显得十分壮美。

26 confinement   

n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限

参考例句：

• He spent eleven years in solitary confinement.他度过了11年的单独监禁。
• The date for my wife's confinement was approaching closer and closer.妻子分娩的日子越来越近了。

27 psychiatrists   

n.精神病专家，精神病医生( psychiatrist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They are psychiatrists in good standing. 他们是合格的精神病医生。 来自辞典例句
• Some psychiatrists have patients who grow almost alarmed at how congenial they suddenly feel. 有些精神分析学家发现，他们的某些病人在突然感到惬意的时候几乎会兴奋起来。 来自名作英译部分

28 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。