VOA慢速英语2014 Mixed Signals at US Border with Mexico

 

AS IT IS 2014-09-07 Mixed Signals at US Border with Mexico

Since last October, tens of thousands of children have entered the United States without a parent or legal guardian¹. This was two times the number as the year before.                                                       

Methodist pastor² Jaser Davila meets many Central American immigrants in the Mexican city of Nuevo Laredo. The city lies just south of the U.S. city of Laredo, Texas.

Pastor Davila’s humanitarian³ relief group helps the Central Americans. The immigrants say more people are now traveling to the United States from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. These people will soon arrive at the U.S. border.

At a shelter, the migrants tell Pastor Davila they know other people who are traveling to the border. They also hope their families will be able to join them as soon as possible. The clergyman believes this is true because he hears this information so often.                                                  

The number of Central Americans arrested at the U.S. border reached an all-time high in June. Border Patrol guards arrested many adults and children. They were released because there was no room to detain them. Others surrendered and were taken to an immigration court. They were then released, but told to return at a later date.                                           

In McAllen, Texas, Sister Norma Pimentel has been busy for months dealing⁴ with the Central American immigrants. She operates a center for Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley. Recently, the center helped 70 immigrants in one day.      

But Sister Pimentel said she has not heard that more immigrants are on their way.

"They don't know when people are coming and we don't know either, you know. It could very well be that in October or later on we might have great numbers of people. I think Border Patrol expects numbers to increase in the near future, but we have no clue as to what's going to happen."            

Shelter and immigrant aid workers think about the things that cause people to cross the border at certain times of the year. Some possible reasons are weather conditions, school schedules, and criminal activity. However, none of them expected the increase in immigrants this year.                                   

Sara Melendez works with U.S. Customs and Border Patrol in Laredo, Texas. She said her office has not heard about another increase in immigrants.

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 pastor   

n.牧师，牧人

参考例句：

• He was the son of a poor pastor.他是一个穷牧师的儿子。
• We have no pastor at present:the church is run by five deacons.我们目前没有牧师：教会的事是由五位执事管理的。

3 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

4 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。