VOA新闻杂志2022--墨西哥小镇与成千上万的移民斗争

Small Mexican Town Struggle with Thousands of Migrants

Migrants, especially Venezuelans, are struggling with a new United States policy meant to prevent border crossings. And many Venezuelan migrants trying to enter the U.S. are now stuck in a small town in southern Mexico.

The town of San Pedro Tapanatepec had 7,000 migrants when The Associated Press visited at the beginning of October. About 75 percent were Venezuelans. Just weeks later, Mayor¹ Humberto Parrazales estimated² the number was now 14,000. The town has a population of just 15,000.

Many Venezuelans had planned to make their way to the U.S. border. But the new U.S. policy says only those applying online, and arriving by air, will be admitted. Border crossers by foot will be expelled⁴. That leaves many living in Tapanatepec in five large tent shelters wondering what they will do next.

San Pedro Tapanatepec is not where the migrants wanted to be. The town is about 300 kilometers from the border with Guatemala.

Since August, the town has served as a stop for migrants. They would wait there for a few days while Mexican immigration officials gave them a travel pass to make it to the U.S. border.

But Parrazales said the process for giving out the passes has slowed down. Now many more migrants wait in Tapanatepec, a poor town unprepared for so many people.

"I don't understand anything," Venezuelan migrant Robinson Rodríguez said by phone from Tapanatepec. "If everything at the border is closed, then they shouldn't be handing out these passes. And if you ask (the officials), they say they don't know, but they keep handing them out."

The migrants do not have much time. Rodríguez had received a seven-day travel document, which required him to leave Mexico within a week. But he had to use his time raising money to pay for transportation to the northern border. But by the time he got the money, his pass had expired⁶.

Many people are confused. Nicaraguan migrant Luis Martinica showed a paper with an internet link for Venezuelans to apply. But he wondered if he, a Nicaraguan, would be expelled at the U.S. border.

Mayor Parrazales has his own problems. The town can no longer provide the electricity needed for the camp. Health care, cleaning and water are also problems.

Still, migrants are bringing in some money to the town. Parrazales said the town has seen about $15 million in extra business selling migrants food, places to sleep, medicine, taxi and bus rides. He said they pay money to charge their phones.

Mexico has released⁷ about 77,000 passes to Venezuelans so far this year, mostly in the last three months. Because of political reasons, Venezuelans, like Cubans, are hard to expel³, both for Mexico and the United States.

Mexico's National Immigration Institute did not answer questions from the AP about how the camp will be operated following the new U.S. policy.

"There is a big lack of information," Parrazales said. "This is a pressure cooker I'm trying to contain here."

Words in This Story

expire⁵ — v. to no longer be valid⁸ after a period of time

confused — adj. unable to understand or think clearly

pressure cooker — n. a situation or place that causes you to feel a lot of stress or pressure

1 mayor   

n.市长

参考例句：

• The new mayor said he would clean the city up.新市长说，他要整顿本市。
• The mayor hurried into his office,brushing off the reporters.市长赶快走进办公室，拒不接见记者。

2 estimated   

adj．根据估计的

参考例句：

• She estimated the breadth of the lake to be 500 metres. 她估计湖面大约有500米宽。
• The man estimated for the repair of the car. 那人估算了修理汽车的费用。

3 expel   

vt.把...开除，驱逐，放逐，排出，喷出

参考例句：

• They were told at first that they should simply expel the refugees.一开始有人告诉他们应该直接将那些难民驱逐出境。
• The headmaster may expel the boy from the school.校长可能要把那个男孩从学校开除。

4 expelled   

驱逐( expel的过去式和过去分词 )； 赶走； 把…除名； 排出

参考例句：

• She was expelled from school at 15. 她15岁时被学校开除了。
• After the outbreak of fighting,all foreign journalists were expelled. 战斗开始后，所有的外国记者都被驱逐出境。

5 expire   

vi.期满，（期限）终止，断气，死亡

参考例句：

• His term of office as president will expire next year.他的总统任期明年将届满。
• When does your trade agreement with Japan expire?你们同日本签订的贸易协定何时期满？

6 expired   

期满( expire的过去式和过去分词 )； 文件、协议等（因到期而）失效； 断气； 逝世

参考例句：

• The period of validity of the agreement has expired. 本协议的有效期已过。
• Their licences have expired. 他们的执照已到期。

7 released   

v.释放( release的过去式和过去分词 )；放开；发布；发行

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• With hindsight it is easy to say they should not have released him. 事后才说他们本不应该释放他，这倒容易。

8 valid   

adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的

参考例句：

• His claim to own the house is valid.他主张对此屋的所有权有效。
• Do you have valid reasons for your absence?你的缺席有正当理由吗？