VOA慢速英语2021--Immigrants with Temporary Status Grow Roots in US

Immigrants with Temporary Status Grow Roots in US

Irma Chavez is a married mother of four who leads a business networking program in the United States. The marketing¹ specialist is based in the small city of Springdale, Arkansas. It is a long way from her life as a housekeeper² in California years ago. It is even further away from her childhood working in El Salvador's coffee fields.

Chavez' path in America was possible because of a U.S. immigration law designed to help people who flee disaster or armed conflict. If they are coming from one of several candidate countries, they can receive what is called Temporary Protected Status, or TPS. TPS permits them to live and work in the U.S. legally.

Former president Donald Trump⁴ sought to limit the program by cutting several countries from the list, including El Salvador. Current U.S. President Joe Biden, however, supports a proposal to expand the program. The legislation would give Chavez and hundreds of thousands of people like her a chance to become American citizens.

About 410,000 live and work in the U.S. under the TPS program. Some feared that they might be sent back to their homelands during Trump's term. Many have not lived in their home countries since they were children.

Now, these immigrants, and others, are hopeful that Congress will pass a bill that could permit them to remain in the U.S. permanently⁵. The bill would establish an eight-year pathway to American citizenship⁶ for about 11 million undocumented immigrants and others in the country legally under TPS.

Chavez, who is 44 years old, has been renewing her TPS for 20 years. The new bill could end fears that she might be deported⁷ without her children. It also would permit her to travel more easily to see her mother and sister in her Salvadoran hometown.

"We really hope everything is going to change in our favor now," Chavez said. "We are good people. We work. We do our taxes. We pay our taxes."

The Department of Homeland Security decides what countries to add to or remove from the TPS program. There are currently 12 countries on the list, including this year's additions of Myanmar and Venezuela.

Though temporary, a country's TPS status can be renewed by U.S. officials and has been repeatedly. For example, more than half of TPS holders⁸ are from El Salvador, which became part of the program after a 2001 earthquake. Thousands continue to leave the country each year to escape its high rate of violent crime and unemployment.

Giving TPS holders permanency could move many to buy homes and invest in American businesses, said Manuel Orozco. He is director of the Center for Migration³ and Economic Stabilization⁹ at the organization Creative Associates International.

Orozco said it would help these immigrants strengthen their economic roots, which would also help the U.S. economy.

Back in El Salvador

Irma Chavez' sister Iris¹⁰ Franco still lives in El Salvador. The mother of four makes and sells bread near the large city of Santa Ana in El Salvador. She uses a bicycle to transport her products to buyers. Franco's oldest child is studying to be a doctor. She is the first in her family to go to college.

Neither Franco nor Chavez finished high school. They both worked as children while their mother sold tamales to survive.

In 1994, the family agreed Chavez would travel north to stay with family members in Los Angeles and work for three years. She would save up money and come back.

It did not happen as they planned. Chavez got married and had children. But the money she promised to send back home always arrived. And the amounts she could send rose as her earnings¹¹ rose over the years. Now, she is helping¹² her sister pay the costs of medical school.

Last year, Salvadorans sent nearly $6 billion home to family members.

People with the temporary status often hold higher-paying jobs than those without legal documents. So they are sometimes able to send more help to their families, said Jesse Acevedo. He is an expert on international migration with the University of Denver in Colorado.

Home in Arkansas

In Arkansas, Chavez leads a business networking group that she hopes will become Springdale's first Latino chamber¹³ of commerce. She and her sister also created a nonprofit organization to help children from their neighborhood in El Salvador. It provides students with school supplies and a gift and party every Christmas.

For Chavez, it was worrisome when the Trump administration announced it would cancel the TPS program for El Salvador.

"I learned a lot from that, that we're not safe in this country unless we are citizens," she said.

If the proposal now in Congress becomes law, all her immigration worries might finally be over.

Words in This Story

housekeeper - n. a person whose job is to do the cooking, cleaning, et cetera, in a house

tamale - n. a Mesoamerican food that consists of seasoned ground meat or beans rolled in cornmeal, wrapped in a corn husk, and steamed

legal - n. of or relating to the law

1 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

2 housekeeper   

n.管理家务的主妇，女管家

参考例句：

• A spotless stove told us that his mother is a diligent housekeeper.炉子清洁无瑕就表明他母亲是个勤劳的主妇。
• She is an economical housekeeper and feeds her family cheaply.她节约持家，一家人吃得很省。

3 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。

4 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。

5 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

6 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

7 deported   

v.将…驱逐出境( deport的过去式和过去分词 )；举止

参考例句：

• They stripped me of my citizenship and deported me. 他们剥夺我的公民资格，将我驱逐出境。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The convicts were deported to a deserted island. 罪犯们被流放到一个荒岛。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 holders   

支持物( holder的名词复数 )； 持有者； （支票等）持有人； 支托（或握持）…之物

参考例句：

• Slaves were mercilessly ground down by slave holders. 奴隶受奴隶主的残酷压迫。
• It is recognition of compassion's part that leads the up-holders of capital punishment to accuse the abolitionists of sentimentality in being more sorry for the murderer than for his victim. 正是对怜悯的作用有了认识，才使得死刑的提倡者指控主张废除死刑的人感情用事，同情谋杀犯胜过同情受害者。

9 Stabilization   

稳定化

参考例句：

• The position of barycentre on plane directly impacts the stabilization and manipulation of plane. 飞机重心位置直接影响飞机的稳定和操纵特性。
• With the higher olefins, stabilization of the energetic intermediates occurs more easily. 在较高的烯烃情况下，高能的中间物稳定作用更易出现。

10 iris   

n.虹膜，彩虹

参考例句：

• The opening of the iris is called the pupil.虹膜的开口处叫做瞳孔。
• This incredible human eye,complete with retina and iris,can be found in the Maldives.又是在马尔代夫，有这样一只难以置信的眼睛，连视网膜和虹膜都刻画齐全了。

11 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

12 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

13 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。