密歇根新闻广播 为滞留移民设立标准

 

A bipartisan group of U.S. representatives on Friday visited sites along the U.S. Mexico border. Among them was Democratic Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin, who represents Michigan's 8th district. Slotkin says her goal for this trip was to understand the stress on the situation at the border, and to try to find bipartisan agreement on how to fix what she describes as a broken system.

Congressional members toured a port of entry in Hidalgo, Texas, as well as a holding facility in Donna, Texas, where they spoke¹ to several families seeking asylum². Slotkin says one woman told them she'd paid smugglers $10,000 for help crossing the border and seeking asylum.

There's definitely a massive criminal nexus³ that's going on that's making money off of these people and their horrible, horrible situations, Slotkin said.

The large number of migrants seeking asylum at the southern border is overwhelming the capacity of CBP staff, according to Slotkin. While the facility in Donna did have air conditioning and adequate food for detained migrants, she says not all dentention facilities do. And the staff at these facilities, Slotkin says, isn't adequately trained to be taking care of the large number of people in their custody⁴. And, she adds, it isn't a job they want to be doing.

The system is just fundamentally broken. And I think it's important to come as a group together so that we see the same things and we can try and just suck some of the politics out of this issue, Slotkin said.

The congresswoman acknowledges that is going to be a difficult task in the current political climate, but she says it is the job of Congress to keep trying. Slotkin introduced a bill earlier this month that would amend⁵ the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to mandate⁶ people detained by CBP have access to adequate food and shelter, including shower facilities and personal care products. Right now, the law only says the agency must provide food and water to those in custody.

There is no contradiction between keeping ourselves safe, making sure we know who's coming into our borders and that anyone coming in doesn't pose a threat, but then also providing for the humanitarian⁷ treatment of all people, Slotkin said.

That bill was passed out of the House Homeland Security Committee Thursday with bipartisan support.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post said the group of congressional members visited a facility in McAllen, Texas. They were at a facility in Donna, Texas, which is near McAllen. The post has been corrected above.

1 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 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。

3 nexus   

n.联系；关系

参考例句：

• Shared ambition is the vital nexus between them.共同的志向是把他们联结在一起的重要纽带。
• Either way,the nexus between the consumer and consumer prices is important.无论那个方面，消费者与消费价格之间的关系是至关重要的。

4 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

5 amend   

vt.修改，修订，改进；n.[pl.]赔罪，赔偿

参考例句：

• The teacher advised him to amend his way of living.老师劝他改变生活方式。
• You must amend your pronunciation.你必须改正你的发音。

6 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

7 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。