VOA常速英语2015--中美国家难民在美国处境艰难（在线收听）

中美国家难民在美国处境艰难

HOUSTON, TEXAS— A year ago, the nation’s attention across the U.S. was focused on what was described as a surge of immigrants from Central America, many of whom were children unaccompanied by their parents. U.S. immigration authorities detained many of the children and many adults as well, but let thousands free to live with relatives in the United States while awaiting their court hearing on charges of entering the country illegally. Thousands of those immigrants continue efforts to gain legal status, with prospects that are uncertain.

Every day, dozens of people come to the office of Nelson Reyes seeking help on everything from finding employment to filing income tax and pursuing a visa that would allow them to stay in this country legally.

每天都会几十人来到纳尔逊·雷耶斯的办公室来寻求帮助，包括找工作、申报收入税、以及能让他们合法留在美国的签证。

He is the founder and director of the Central American Resource Center, which is located in a shopping center frequented by Latin American immigrants.

他是中美资源中心的创立者和负责人，该组织位于一个拉美移民喜欢光顾的购物中心。

“They are coming from a third world country to a new system and they do not know anything about the system here,” said Reyes.

“他们从第三世界来到新的国家，所以对这个国家的制度一无所知。”

He said the center operates on fees clients pay for services, which he said are much lower than those of law firms uptown. “If someone comes here and wants to fight their case in court, the attorneys up there charge between$4 to $5,000 and we charge here $700, $750, it depends,” he said.

他说该中心靠客户缴纳的服务费来维持运营，他说这个服务费比住宅区律师事务所的费用要低很多。“如果有人想打官司来这里，那里的代理律师就会收费4万到5万美元，而我们看情况只收费700到750美元。”

Reyes is not an attorney, but he and his staff can help people with basic procedures that do not always require an attorney. “They have court cases pending so we advise them of what it is they need to file in court in order to get a better chance for their cases,” he stated.

雷耶斯并不是代理律师，但他和他的员工们能帮助人们处理一些并不总是需要代理律师的基本程序。“如果他们有悬而未决的案件，我们就会建议他们向法院申诉需要些什么，这样获胜的几率就会大些。”

But many thousands of Central Americans seeking refugee status have either been deported or are facing deportation.

但有数千中美国家寻求庇护的人要么已被驱逐，要么面临被驱逐的处境。

Officials say the number of people trying to cross the border this year is less than half of what it was last year, partly because Mexico has cracked down on illegal immigration from Central America.

官方称今年试图越境的人口数量不到去年的一半，这部分因为墨西哥对中美非法移民的打击。

U.S. officials have set up detention facilities in various parts of the country for minors and for women with small children, and has deported a large number of people who could not convince courts that they had been targeted by drug gangs back home.

美国官方在各地为未成年人和带小孩的妇女成立了拘留中心，还驱逐了大批未能让法院信服他们在本国被贩毒团伙打击的人。

Nelson Reyes, who came to the United States in 1990 from El Salvador, said the immigration system is often cruel. “That is why we need a system that is more humane that really understands that we are dealing with kids here that the way we treat them now will have an impact on their life,” he explained.

纳尔逊·雷耶斯1990年从萨尔瓦多来到美国，他说移民制度通常很残忍。“因此我们需要更人性化的制度，这个制度要能明白，我们现在对待孩子的态度将会影响他们的一生。”

But, for now, many of these people fleeing violence and poverty in their homelands remain in a nether world, living here, but not able to pursue their own American dream.

但就目前来说，很多逃避国内暴力和贫困的人仍处境险恶，虽然生活在这里，但却无法追求自己的美国梦。