A tough immigration enforcement law scheduled to take effect in Arizona at the end of July is touching off debate and controversy far beyond the southwestern state. As a consequence, immigration reform is moving higher on the list of issues Americans say they want their politicians to address.
亚利桑那州严苛的移民法定于7月29日生效。这个法律引起的辩论和争议早已超出一个州的范围。因此，移民改革成为民众要求领导人尽早解决的问题之一。
The Arizona law requires immigrants to carry their registration documents at all times. It also directs local police to question people they suspect are in the country illegally… a job usually done by federal law enforcement.
亚利桑那州的移民法规定移民必须随时携带身份证件，并要求地方警察盘问任何他们怀疑是非法入境的人。这本来是联邦执法人员的工作。
A Washington Post/ABC News poll found a majority of Americans – 58 percent – support the controversial course of action Arizona is taking. And roughly half the respondents in another national poll said they want their state to copy its get tough approach.
华盛顿邮报和美国广播公司合办的一次民调显示，百分之58的美国人支持亚利桑那州这种引起争议的做法。在另一次全国民调中，大约半数受访者希望他们的州也效仿亚利桑那州的严格办法。
A proposal for a tougher stand
Woodland, Washington is a surprisingly diverse American small town. Third generation berry farmers live near people who commute to work in distant Portland, Oregon, who in turn live near under-employed construction and mill workers. Woodland also has a growing Hispanic population.
伍德兰是一个高度多元化的美国小镇。这里有三代种植草莓的农民，邻居是一群每天开车去俄勒冈州波特兰市上班的通勤族。离他们不远，住着工作时间不足的建筑工和钢铁厂工人。伍德兰的拉美裔居民也在不断增加。
The mix verged on combustible at an overflowing City Council meeting recently, as townspeople commented on a resolution to endorse Arizona's immigration crackdown and to urge the Washington State Legislature to follow suit.
最近小镇市政委员会开会，考虑通过一个决议，支持亚利桑那州打击非法移民，并呼吁州议会跟进。与会者展开了激烈的辩论。
One woman told council members, "The law opens the door to the indiscriminate use of racial profiling against individuals that look or sound foreign."
一名妇女说：“这个法律打开一扇门，也就是以外貌或口音取人，无端地以种族相貌为由进行歧视。”
"If you came to this country illegally, you started off on the wrong foot," another resident said. "You need to go back home, do the paperwork and come back the right way."
一名男性说：“如果你非法进入美国，那你从一开始就错了。你应该回到原来的国家，按程序填表申请后再来。”
A woman took the microphone to complain, "A lot of these people who are coming in illegally, they're getting medical coupons. They're getting food stamps... They're getting all kinds of things that are provided through our tax system. It has to stop! It has to stop somewhere!"
另一名妇女说：“很多非法进入美国的人得到医药补助，领到食品券，得到所有由我们的税金提供的福利。这种情形必须停止。”
A Woodland retiree agreed illegal immigration is out of hand, but said local Hispanic families are good people. "We're not a border town," she said. "That's the way I feel. Number one, we're not a border town. That's not our business."
已经退休的诺玛·布伦森也认为，非法移民问题已经到了失控的地步。但是她说，当地拉美裔居民都是好人。
Putting a stop to illegal immigration from the bottom up
But City council member Benjamin Fredericks says it is Woodland's business. He introduced the controversial resolution, pointing out, "It obviously isn't working from the top down. The federal government is ignoring current law. That's why I believe Arizona has the right to pass their own laws." He sees Arizona's action and his proposal as part of an effort to start reform from the bottom up, and said he'd like to see the Washington state legislature take up the issue.
Juan Barela is a counselor and human rights activist in Woodland. He says Arizona's immigration controversy has awakened the nation's Latino communities. "Now we are galvanized, united. We are strong and we're getting the vote."
In the end, the Woodland city council voted down the resolution that would have urged the legislature to copy Arizona's tough enforcement approach.
最后，伍德兰市政委员会否决了关于敦促华盛顿州议会效仿亚利桑那州的提案。
City councils in Seattle, Washington, and Los Angeles, California, have passed boycotts of Arizona travel and business contracts to show their disapproval of the new law. Most recently, the debate surfaced in Fremont, Nebraska where voters approved a city law against hiring or renting to illegal immigrants.
华盛顿州的西雅图市和加州洛杉矶市，都通过了抵制亚利桑那州旅游和商业合同的提案，以表示他们的不满。最近，内布拉斯加州弗来蒙市也就这个问题展开了辩论。选民通过投票，支持该市一项禁止雇用或出租住房给非法移民的法律。
Public unease about immigration
Portland, Oregon-based opinion pollster Adam Davis says all of the controversy is moving immigration higher on the list of issues people want addressed. "When you ask about the biggest problem facing the nation," he notes, "just recently there has been a real surge in the number of people that mention immigration. In the West particularly, it jumped from 2 to 16 percent in the Western states, saying that it the biggest problem facing the nation."
俄勒冈州波特兰的民调专家亚当·戴维斯说，这些争议将移民改革推到了民众希望解决的问题清单中的更高位置：“如果你问美国面临的最大问题是什么，最近越来越多的人会说是移民问题。尤其在西部各州，认为移民问题是美国面临的最大问题的人，从百分之2猛增至百分之16。”
Davis theorizes the support for stronger immigration enforcement reflects tough times. "They feel these people are taking jobs away from legal residents. In tough economic times, this is something that really concerns a lot of people. And it is not just jobs. There is also a feeling that resources are limited, that there isn't the money out there to provide government services to these people."
戴维斯认为，支持更严格的移民法律，也反映出目前时局的艰难。他说：“他们觉得非法移民抢走了合法居民的工作。在经济困难时期，许多人的确非常担心这个问题。还不仅仅是工作，还有人觉得资源有限，政府没有财力来为这些人提供服务。”
Craig Keller hopes to tap that public unease. Keller directs a citizen initiative campaign in Washington State. His proposal would require all employers to check the immigration status of new hires through the government's e-verify service. Recipients of public benefits would also have to be validated.
克雷格·凯勒在华盛顿州领导着一个公民倡议运动。他建议，所有雇主都应通过政府的电子核对服务，确认新雇人员的移民身份，对享受公共福利的人的身份也应当进行核实。
"It's very ironic that there is huge public demand for a law like this. But the 'representatives'," he says with a bit of a sneer, "that have been selected to go to Olympia are not representing the people. That's why this is a perfect example of why the citizens' initiative process is required." His campaign needs to gather a quarter-million voter signatures to qualify the measure for the November ballot.
凯勒说：“非常具有讽刺意味的是，民众对这类法律的要求很高，而那些被选到州议会的所谓民意代表们，却没有代表人民说话。这恰恰说明为什么人民倡议运动是必要的。”凯勒的这个运动需要25万选民的签名，才有资格被列入今年11月选票上的公决项目。
Meanwhile, the Obama administration and some Arizona city governments hope to convince a judge to stop Arizona's new immigration law from taking effect later this month.
与此同时，奥巴马政府和亚利桑那州的一些市政府希望能说服联邦法官，阻止亚利桑那州的移民法在7月底生效。 |