2007年VOA标准英语-US Immigration Enforcement Initiative Impacts B

By Michael Bowman
Washington
30 August 2007

Months ago, an ambitious attempt to overhaul¹ America's immigration system failed in Congress, and there is little talk of reviving the proposal anytime soon.  Absent reform, some federal agencies are redoubling efforts to enforce existing laws and crack down on the hiring of illegal aliens.  VOA's Michael Bowman reports from Washington, the moves are eliciting² few cheers from the business community, defenders³ of undocumented workers or even those who favor a hard-line approach to combating illegal immigration.

People protest passage of measures passed in some Virgnia counties to deny a potentially wide range of public services to illegal immigrants, 27 Aug. 2007

Recent months have seen a flurry of raids by federal agents on American businesses suspected of hiring undocumented workers.  From a Massachusetts leather factory to meatpacking plants in more than a half-dozen states to a vegetable processing facility in Oregon, immigration enforcement agents have detained thousands of mostly-Hispanic laborers⁵ believed to have entered the United States illegally.  Factory owners face prosecution⁶ and, if found guilty of knowingly hiring undocumented workers, must pay hefty fines.

The Department of Homeland Security says all employers must scrutinize⁷ their workers' legal status.  Specifically, businesses must check that Social Security numbers, a basic requirement for employment, match the names listed by the Social Security Administration.  Employers will also be able to verify photographs contained in official documents, like permanent residency cards, through a database containing images of those documents at the time they were issued.

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, 17 May 2007

Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff announced the procedures a few weeks ago.

"This way you will be able to determine that the person has not phonied up the document or substituted a phony photograph for a real photograph," he said.

The Social Security Administration says more than $500 billion of earnings⁸ were reported last year by individuals whose names do not match their Social Security numbers.  In some cases, dozens of workers in multiple states have been found to be using the same number.  Authorities say identity theft and forged documents are common tactics used by illegal aliens to get jobs, with businesses often looking the other way to secure inexpensive labor⁴.

Chertoff has a simple message for employers who ignore the law.

"We will come down on them like a ton of bricks," he warned.

Business groups complain that they are being forced to act as immigration agents, and that the federal requirements will cause a worker shortage in key economic sectors⁹, bringing production to a standstill.  In agriculture, already there are reports of fruit and vegetables going unpicked, rotting on the vine.

As a result, some American farmers foresee huge financial losses, and a few are contemplating¹⁰ selling their land and moving overseas, according to Austin Perez of the American Farm Bureau Federation¹¹.

"You are going to see more agriculture outsourced," he said.  "You are going to see more food grown in foreign countries.  You are going to see [food] prices go up in some places.  I do not think that is what Americans want."

You might think that those who favor restricting immigration would applaud the new enforcement initiative.  But many see the effort as too little too late.  They note that President Bush has never taken a zero-tolerance approach to illegal immigration, proposing instead to give millions of undocumented workers the chance to stay and legalize their status. 

"Symbolism can only go so far here," said John Keeley of the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies.  "We need to see real achievements, and we need to see consistent enforcement of immigration law.  The Bush administration is coming to an end.  They are getting to enforcement belatedly, to put it charitably.  The American people have wanted something significant and something consistent done about illegal immigration for many years."

Immigrant rights advocates worry the enforcement initiative will promote racial and ethnic¹² discrimination, causing some employers to eliminate Hispanics and other minorities from their workforce¹³, including those with legal status.

The basic problem stems from piecemeal¹⁴ federal immigration efforts, according to Eleanor Pelta of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

"The problem with that approach is that it really does not resolve the root cause of the issue that we have in the United States today," she said.  "You can have an all-enforcement regime, but it is not necessarily going to relieve the pressure at the border.  It is not going to make the United States less of a magnet for those who want to come here and find better lives and contribute to our economy, contribute to our society."

Bush administration officials readily admit that current immigration enforcement efforts are less than ideal.  But they say that, absent congressional action to overhaul the immigration system, they have no choice but to enforce existing laws as best they can.

1 overhaul   

v./n.大修，仔细检查

参考例句：

• Master Worker Wang is responsible for the overhaul of this grinder.王师傅主修这台磨床。
• It is generally appreciated that the rail network needs a complete overhaul.众所周知，铁路系统需要大检修。

2 eliciting   

n. 诱发, 引出 动词elicit的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• He succeeded in eliciting the information he needed from her. 他从她那里问出了他所需要的信息。
• A criminal trial isn't a tribunal for eliciting the truth. 刑事审讯并非是一种要探明真相的审判。

3 defenders   

n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者

参考例句：

• The defenders were outnumbered and had to give in. 抵抗者寡不敌众，只能投降。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• After hard fighting,the defenders were still masters of the city. 守军经过奋战仍然控制着城市。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

5 laborers   

n.体力劳动者，工人( laborer的名词复数 )；（熟练工人的）辅助工

参考例句：

• Laborers were trained to handle 50-ton compactors and giant cranes. 工人们接受操作五十吨压土机和巨型起重机的训练。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Wage-labour rests exclusively on competition between the laborers. 雇佣劳动完全是建立在工人的自相竞争之上的。 来自英汉非文学 - 共产党宣言

6 prosecution   

n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营

参考例句：

• The Smiths brought a prosecution against the organizers.史密斯家对组织者们提出起诉。
• He attempts to rebut the assertion made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳原告方证人所作的断言。

7 scrutinize   

n.详细检查，细读

参考例句：

• Her purpose was to scrutinize his features to see if he was an honest man.她的目的是通过仔细观察他的相貌以判断他是否诚实。
• She leaned forward to scrutinize their faces.她探身向前，端详他们的面容。

8 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%。

9 sectors   

n.部门( sector的名词复数 )；领域；防御地区；扇形

参考例句：

• Berlin was divided into four sectors after the war. 战后柏林分成了4 个区。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Industry and agriculture are the two important sectors of the national economy. 工业和农业是国民经济的两个重要部门。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

10 contemplating   

深思，细想，仔细考虑( contemplate的现在分词 )； 注视，凝视； 考虑接受（发生某事的可能性）； 深思熟虑，沉思，苦思冥想

参考例句：

• You're too young to be contemplating retirement. 你考虑退休还太年轻。
• She stood contemplating the painting. 她站在那儿凝视那幅图画。

11 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

12 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

13 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

14 piecemeal   

adj.零碎的；n.片，块；adv.逐渐地；v.弄成碎块

参考例句：

• A lack of narrative drive leaves the reader with piecemeal vignettes.叙述缺乏吸引力，读者读到的只是一些支离破碎的片段。
• Let's settle the matter at one stroke,not piecemeal.把这事一气儿解决了吧，别零敲碎打了。