2006年VOA标准英语-US Border Patrol Program Shows Results in

By Greg Flakus
Houston
01 June 2006
 
In the debate over immigration reform in the United States, some citizens have called for a halt to illegal crossings of the U.S.-Mexico border, while others contend it is impossible to completely stop the flow of poor migrants across the 3,000-kilometer line.  But a new Border Patrol pilot program is showing that strict enforcement of existing U.S. immigration laws can have a dramatic effect.

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The Del Rio sector¹ of the U.S.-Mexico border runs for 288 kilometers along the Rio Grande River, which forms the boundary between Texas and Mexico.  

 

 
US Border Patrol agents talk with an illegal immigrant
  

Since December of last year, the U.S. Border Patrol has tried a new program here that has curtailed² both immigrant crossings and drug trafficking.  With the cooperation of local law enforcement and U.S. attorneys in the area, the Border Patrol has sent hundreds of illegal entrants to be prosecuted⁴ for their crimes.

Under existing U.S. law, a person who enters the United States at any point other than an official port of entry is guilty of a misdemeanor and can be sentenced to up to six months in prison.  In a VOA phone interview, Del Rio Border Patrol spokesman Randy Clark said the threat of punishment has discouraged people from crossing here.

"In our busiest station, where we once apprehended⁶ the most aliens, we are now close to 70 percent down for the month of May, when we compare it to 2005," he said.  "For the period of the operation, which is December 2005 to present, we have noticed a 50 percent decline in the station, overall, for those six months."

Clark says the secret to the program's success is the application of existing law and the use of penalties spelled out in the statutes⁷.  In the Del Rio sector, agents have ended the so-called "revolving⁸ door" practice, whereby captured illegal immigrants were simply processed and sent back into Mexico, where they could then make another attempt at crossing.  It has been common for Border Patrol agents to apprehend⁵ the same individual two or three times in the same day because of this practice.

Agent Clark says under the zero-tolerance program, dubbed⁹ "Operation Streamline," someone who has been jailed for breaking U.S. immigration law once will face more punishment for doing it again.

"If they enter the United States after serving that sentence and being removed from the country, then they find themselves in the predicament that they either are going to be prosecuted for a felony, because it is their second offense¹⁰, or, if we elect to prosecute³ for a misdemeanor, they may face a stiffer penalty than on that first occasion," he added.

Clark says existing law gives federal prosecutors¹¹ leeway to charge a person with a felony if they are a repeat offender¹², but this only applies to people crossing the border illegally. 

A controversial bill passed by the House of Representatives in December would have made it a felony for anyone to be in the United States illegally, but some Congressmen who voted for it say that provision is likely to be dropped from a comprehensive bill worked out in the coming weeks between representatives of the House and Senate.

Clark says agents freed from the burden of processing and returning detainees can now spend more time catching¹³ them.  He says President Bush's promise to send National Guard troops to the border should also be a help in that regard.

Border Patrol officials in Washington are closely monitoring "Operation Streamline" on the west Texas border, but Clark says it is too soon to say that this same approach can be applied everywhere else on the border

1 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

2 curtailed   

v.截断，缩短( curtail的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Spending on books has been severely curtailed. 购书开支已被大大削减。
• Their public health programme had to be severely curtailed. 他们的公共卫生计划不得不大大收缩。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 prosecute   

vt.告发；进行；vi.告发，起诉，作检察官

参考例句：

• I am trying my best to prosecute my duties.我正在尽力履行我的职责。
• Is there enough evidence to prosecute?有没有起诉的足够证据？

4 prosecuted   

a.被起诉的

参考例句：

• The editors are being prosecuted for obscenity. 编辑因刊载污秽文字而被起诉。
• The company was prosecuted for breaching the Health and Safety Act. 这家公司被控违反《卫生安全条例》。

5 apprehend   

vt.理解，领悟，逮捕，拘捕，忧虑

参考例句：

• I apprehend no worsening of the situation.我不担心局势会恶化。
• Police have not apprehended her killer.警察还未抓获谋杀她的凶手。

6 apprehended   

逮捕，拘押( apprehend的过去式和过去分词 )； 理解

参考例句：

• She apprehended the complicated law very quickly. 她很快理解了复杂的法律。
• The police apprehended the criminal. 警察逮捕了罪犯。

7 statutes   

成文法( statute的名词复数 )； 法令； 法规； 章程

参考例句：

• The numerous existing statutes are complicated and poorly coordinated. 目前繁多的法令既十分复杂又缺乏快调。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Each agency is also restricted by the particular statutes governing its activities. 各个机构的行为也受具体法令限制。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

8 revolving   

adj.旋转的，轮转式的；循环的v.（使）旋转( revolve的现在分词 )；细想

参考例句：

• The theatre has a revolving stage. 剧院有一个旋转舞台。
• The company became a revolving-door workplace. 这家公司成了工作的中转站。

9 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 offense   

n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪

参考例句：

• I hope you will not take any offense at my words. 对我讲的话请别见怪。
• His words gave great offense to everybody present.他的发言冲犯了在场的所有人。

11 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

12 offender   

n.冒犯者，违反者，犯罪者

参考例句：

• They all sued out a pardon for an offender.他们请求法院赦免一名罪犯。
• The authorities often know that sex offenders will attack again when they are released.当局一般都知道性犯罪者在获释后往往会再次犯案。

13 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。