Migrants Bring Attention to US-Mexican Border Policies

 

The Mexican government says it is offering refugee status to some members of a group of migrants from Central America marching north through the country.

The activist¹ organization People Without Borders (Pueblo Sin Fronteras) helped form the caravan² of people. It has done so each year for the last 10 years to help bring attention to the rights of migrants, especially those fleeing dangerous situations.

The Mexican interior and foreign affairs ministries³ released a statement Monday night about the caravan. The Mexican ministries say the migrants are mainly from Honduras. Some are from Guatemala and El Salvador.

The government statement said, “Mexico’s migration⁴ policy is a sovereign one, through which it seeks to ensure legal, safe and orderly migration with full respect for people’s rights.” However, it added the Mexican government did not support, in its words, “irregular migration.”

The ministries added that officials had sent 400 members of the caravan back to their countries. The group started with about 1,100 members.

People Without Borders has called the asylum⁵ process in the United States and Mexico “punitive and unjust.” A spokesperson for the group, Gina Gribo, told VOA that the organization supports migrants fighting for their rights.

The Associated Press reports that the group’s director, Irineo Mujica, said that the group is not meant to march all the way to the U.S. border. However, a coordinator⁶ with the group, Alex Mensing, said on Twitter that the caravan is seeking to pressure Mexico. He said members want Mexico to give them “permission to travel to places where they can seek asylum.”

The group has said that some of the members from Honduras were there because of political crises caused “in large part by the policies of the U.S. government.”

Two smaller caravans⁷ reached the United States last year.

Trump⁸ comments on the group

Reports about the caravan caused American President Donald Trump to write about the issue on Twitter. He said Mexico had the power to keep migrants from entering their country. He also said that the United States has, in his words, “weak immigration policies.”

The Mexican government has said it has kept the U.S. government fully⁹ informed about the situation.

Mexican Interior Secretary Alfonso Navarrete Prida said Mexico will act “to enforce our immigration laws, with no pressure whatsoever¹⁰ from any country whatsoever.” He denied that Mexico is not making an effort to control illegal migration.

The Trump administration told reporters on Monday that it was seeking new laws to speed up some deportations of immigrants who enter the country illegally.

The administration’s effort to change immigration laws is in addition to its plan to build a wall along the border with Mexico. The wall project has only received a small part of the necessary financial support from Congress.

Last year, Trump ended a program supported by former President Barack Obama. The Deferred¹² Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA program affects about 800,000 people who entered the United States illegally as children. The program permits the immigrants to stay in the country and protects them from deportation¹¹.

The time limit for the law passed in March. However, a federal court ruled that it must remain in place until Congress acts. Congress has failed to pass a law to deal with the issue.

About 700,000 people officially take part in the DACA program. More than two-thirds of them are from Mexico. Others are from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and other countries.

I’m Mario Ritter.

Words in This Story

status –n. the current state or position of someone or something

caravan –n. a group of people or animals that travel on a long trip

sovereign –adj. having the power to govern oneself

deportation –n. the act of forcing someone from a country

1 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

2 caravan   

n.大蓬车；活动房屋

参考例句：

• The community adviser gave us a caravan to live in.社区顾问给了我们一间活动住房栖身。
• Geoff connected the caravan to the car.杰弗把旅行用的住屋拖车挂在汽车上。

3 ministries   

（政府的）部( ministry的名词复数 )； 神职； 牧师职位； 神职任期

参考例句：

• Local authorities must refer everything to the central ministries. 地方管理机构应请示中央主管部门。
• The number of Ministries has been pared down by a third. 部委的数量已经减少了1/3。

4 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

5 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。

6 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

7 caravans   

（可供居住的）拖车（通常由机动车拖行）( caravan的名词复数 )； 篷车； （穿过沙漠地带的）旅行队（如商队）

参考例句：

• Old-fashioned gypsy caravans are painted wooden vehicles that are pulled by horses. 旧式的吉卜赛大篷车是由马拉的涂了颜色的木质车辆。
• Old-fashioned gypsy caravans are painted wooden vehicles. 旧时的吉普赛大篷车是涂了颜色的木质车辆。

8 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。

9 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

10 whatsoever   

adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么

参考例句：

• There's no reason whatsoever to turn down this suggestion.没有任何理由拒绝这个建议。
• All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,do ye even so to them.你想别人对你怎样，你就怎样对人。

11 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。

12 deferred   

adj.延期的，缓召的v.拖延，延缓，推迟( defer的过去式和过去分词 )；服从某人的意愿，遵从

参考例句：

• The department deferred the decision for six months. 这个部门推迟了六个月才作决定。
• a tax-deferred savings plan 延税储蓄计划