美国国家公共电台 NPR Opinion: The 'Filthy And Uncomfortable Circumstances' Of Detained Migrant Children

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

If you knew of a child who was being forced by a parent or guardian¹ to sleep on a cold concrete floor in overcrowded surroundings, with screaming lights always on overhead that made it hard to sleep, had limited access to a bathroom, no way to brush their teeth, no soap and no towel, would you do something? Call the police or juvenile² authorities to say, a child is being mistreated; you should do something.

This week, the U.S. government went to court to argue that it's acceptable to keep thousands of migrant children detained in U.S. custody³. Let me repeat that - thousands of children in U.S. custody, exactly in such conditions.

In 2014 - during the Obama administration, it should be noted⁴ - several young immigrants caught along the border said they'd been given dirty water to drink and kept in crowded, frigid⁵ cells. U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee⁶ of Los Angeles ruled that children taken into federal immigration custody should be kept in, quote, "safe and sanitary⁷ facilities." The judges of the 9th Circuit, based in San Francisco, upheld Judge Gee's ruling two years ago.

This week, Sarah Fabian, senior litigation counsel for the Department of Justice, told the three-judge panel she thought the phrase was vague. The judges sounded furious. Judge Marsha Berzon asked Sarah Fabian, you're really going to stand up and tell us that being able to sleep isn't a question of safe and sanitary conditions?

Judge William Fletcher said, cold all night long, lights on all night long, sleeping on concrete and you've got an aluminum⁸ foil blanket. I find it inconceivable that the government would say that that is safe and sanitary. Maybe they don't get super-thread-count Egyptian linen⁹; I get that, he added, and said the soap provided didn't have to be perfumed. But plain soap, he said, sounds like it's part of safe and sanitary. Judge A. Wallace Tashima said, if you don't have a toothbrush, if you don't have soap, if you don't have a blanket, it's not safe and sanitary. Wouldn't everybody agree to that?

Many of us would call the police if we knew children were being held in cold, cramped¹⁰, filthy¹¹ and uncomfortable circumstances. Thousands of children are being held in those conditions in U.S. government facilities.

1 guardian   

n.监护人；守卫者，保护者

参考例句：

• The form must be signed by the child's parents or guardian. 这张表格须由孩子的家长或监护人签字。
• The press is a guardian of the public weal. 报刊是公共福利的卫护者。

2 juvenile   

n.青少年，少年读物；adj.青少年的，幼稚的

参考例句：

• For a grown man he acted in a very juvenile manner.身为成年人，他的行为举止显得十分幼稚。
• Juvenile crime is increasing at a terrifying rate.青少年犯罪正在以惊人的速度增长。

3 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。

4 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。

5 frigid   

adj.寒冷的，凛冽的；冷淡的；拘禁的

参考例句：

• The water was too frigid to allow him to remain submerged for long.水冰冷彻骨，他在下面呆不了太长时间。
• She returned his smile with a frigid glance.对他的微笑她报以冷冷的一瞥。

6 gee   

n.马；int.向右！前进！，惊讶时所发声音；v.向右转

参考例句：

• Their success last week will gee the team up.上星期的胜利将激励这支队伍继续前进。
• Gee,We're going to make a lot of money.哇！我们会赚好多钱啦！

7 sanitary   

adj.卫生方面的，卫生的，清洁的，卫生的

参考例句：

• It's not sanitary to let flies come near food.让苍蝇接近食物是不卫生的。
• The sanitary conditions in this restaurant are abominable.这家饭馆的卫生状况糟透了。

8 aluminum   

n.(aluminium)铝

参考例句：

• The aluminum sheets cannot be too much thicker than 0.04 inches.铝板厚度不能超过0.04英寸。
• During the launch phase,it would ride in a protective aluminum shell.在发射阶段，它盛在一只保护的铝壳里。

9 linen   

n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的

参考例句：

• The worker is starching the linen.这名工人正在给亚麻布上浆。
• Fine linen and cotton fabrics were known as well as wool.精细的亚麻织品和棉织品像羊毛一样闻名遐迩。

10 cramped   

a.狭窄的

参考例句：

• The house was terribly small and cramped, but the agent described it as a bijou residence. 房子十分狭小拥挤，但经纪人却把它说成是小巧别致的住宅。
• working in cramped conditions 在拥挤的环境里工作

11 filthy   

adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的

参考例句：

• The whole river has been fouled up with filthy waste from factories.整条河都被工厂的污秽废物污染了。
• You really should throw out that filthy old sofa and get a new one.你真的应该扔掉那张肮脏的旧沙发，然后再去买张新的。