想象一下在國外尋求安全，而不是被拘留并被迫在一場高風險的法律戰(zhàn)中為自己辯護——獨自一人。法學教授 César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández 解釋了美國的庇護程序如何變成我們今天所知道的，并提出了一個可能導(dǎo)致該國擺脫其迷宮政策的問題：代替投資更多的鋼門和鐵絲網(wǎng)，如果移民法被注入了支持和正義？

Outside of Philadelphia,?there is an old nursing home that peaks out from behind lush trees.?Instead of caring for the old, these days, it detains the young.?Kids who came to the United States with their parents.?Inside its hallways,?a little boy named Diego went from diapers to detention.?When he was just one year old,Diego's mother, Wendy, decided that life in Honduras was too dangerous?for them to stay.?Like people from all over the world have done for generations,?Diego and Wendy turned to the United States for safety.

在費城郊外，?有一座古老的療養(yǎng)院，從茂密的樹木后面拔地而起。如今，它不再照顧老人，而是拘留年輕人。?隨父母來到美國的孩子。?在它的走廊里，?一個名叫迭戈的小男孩從尿布變成了拘留所。在他一歲的時候，?迭戈的母親溫迪認為洪都拉斯的生活?對他們來說太危險了，不能留下來。?就像世界各地的人們世世代代所做的那樣，?迭戈和溫迪為了安全而轉(zhuǎn)向美國。

If you are in the United States and you are afraid for your life,federal law is clear that you can ask for asylum.?It does not matter where you came from or how you got here.?Diego and Wendy did just that.?Within a few days,?they found themselves inside that Pennsylvania immigration prison.?Two among half a million people?who will be locked up every single year,?while the government decides?if they will be allowed to stay in the United States.

如果您在美國并且擔心自己的生命，?聯(lián)邦法律明確規(guī)定您可以申請庇護。?你來自哪里或如何來到這里并不重要。?迭戈和溫蒂就是這么做的。?幾天之內(nèi)，?他們發(fā)現(xiàn)自己進入了賓夕法尼亞州的移民監(jiān)獄。每年將有50 萬人被關(guān)押，其中有兩個人將被?政府決定是否允許他們留在美國。

Instead of a fair match?between a prosecutor and a defense attorney,?imprisoned migrants usually walk into court alone.?It's a high-stakes legal battle?that they are forced to fight with their hands tied behind their backs.?As the courts deliberate, the days pass.?From your community to mine, today, someone is locked upwho has not been accused of any crime.?Often, they haven't seen a judge or even a lawyer.?And yet, in most immigration prisons?that I have visited as a lawyer or a researcher,?the steel door is closed shut with the clink of confinement.?For the sake of votes,?politicians claim people like Diego and Wendy are dangerous, or dishonest.?For the sake of profits,?private corporations run prisons to house them.

被監(jiān)禁的移民通常獨自走進法庭，而不是檢察官和辯護律師之間?的公平競爭。這是一場高風險的法律斗爭，他們被迫雙手反綁在背后。隨著法院的審議，日子一天天過去。從你的社區(qū)到我的社區(qū)，今天，有人被關(guān)押，但沒有被指控犯有任何罪行。通常，他們沒有見過法官甚至律師。然而，在我作為律師或研究人員訪問過的大多數(shù)移民監(jiān)獄中，鐵門隨著監(jiān)禁的叮當聲而緊閉。為了選票，政客們聲稱像迭戈和溫迪這樣的人是危險的，或者是不誠實的。?為了利潤，?私人公司經(jīng)營監(jiān)獄來安置他們。

It seems unimaginable today,?but we haven't always locked up migrants?who are waiting for the government to decide their fate.At one time,?the United States stood on the verge of abolishing immigration prisons.?"This was the sign of an enlightened civilization,"?the Supreme Court wrote in 1958.?We were so close.But politics and profits pushed us in the opposite direction.?With the support of Republicans and Democrats,?today, we lock up men, we lock up women, and we lock up children.

今天似乎難以想象，?但我們并不總是關(guān)押?等待政府決定命運的移民。?有一次，?美國站在廢除移民監(jiān)獄的邊緣。?“這是開明文明的標志，”?最高法院在 1958 年寫道。?我們是如此接近。?但是政治和利潤把我們推向了相反的方向。?在共和黨人和民主黨人的支持下，?今天，我們關(guān)押男人，關(guān)押女人，關(guān)押兒童。

But in our past, I see hope for the future.?We can take clear steps toward abolishing immigration prisons.

但在我們的過去，我看到了對未來的希望。?我們可以采取明確的步驟來廢除移民監(jiān)獄。

Most people think of Ellis Island?as the place that welcomed generations of newcomers to the United States.?It did that,?but it was also an immigration prison?with an ironic view of the Statue of Liberty.?By the 1950s, the Ellis Island facility needed to be repaired,?replaced or discarded.?The government of the war hero turned Republican president,?Dwight Eisenhower,?decided to shut it down.?But then, starting in the late 1970s,?the United States built the largest immigration prison system in the world.Republicans and Democrats worked together,?pointing to the prison's barbed wire to uphold the law to protect you ...?from me.When Haitians started arriving in large numbers in the 1970s,Carter turned to detention.?In the 1980s, Reagan followed by jailing Cubans and Central Americans.?George H. W. Bush turned to the military base at Guantanamo, Cuba,?to jail migrants.President Clinton left them there.

大多數(shù)人認為埃利斯島?是歡迎一代又一代新移民來到美國的地方。它做到了，?但它也是一個移民監(jiān)獄?，對自由女神像具有諷刺意味。到 1950 年代，埃利斯島的設(shè)施需要維修、?更換或丟棄。?戰(zhàn)爭英雄的政府變成了共和黨總統(tǒng)?德懷特·艾森豪威爾，?決定關(guān)閉它。?但隨后，從 1970 年代后期開始，?美國建立了世界上最大的移民監(jiān)獄系統(tǒng)。?共和黨人和民主黨人一起工作，?指著監(jiān)獄的鐵絲網(wǎng)來維護法律，保護你……?不受我的傷害。?當海地人在 1970 年代開始大量抵達時，?卡特轉(zhuǎn)向拘留。?在 1980 年代，里根隨后監(jiān)禁了古巴人和中美洲人。?喬治·H·W·布什轉(zhuǎn)向古巴關(guān)塔那摩的軍事基地，?關(guān)押移民。?克林頓總統(tǒng)把他們留在那里。

This isn't a partisan issue.?This is a profits issue.?To local governments and private businesses,?immigration prisons are a financial spigot.?The two largest private prison corporations in the United States,?CoreCivic and the GEO Group,?get about half of their money from the federal government.?With that, they hire people in out-of-the-way locations,?where decent-paying jobs are hard to come by.?Down in South Texas, head north from the border,?and eventually, you will catch the sharp stench of onionsfilling the air.?The local economy of Raymondville --?that's the county seat of Willacy County --?it runs on produce --?on produce and on prisons.?Tucked behind a state jail,?the Willacy County Detention Center houses federal immigration prisoners?in large canvas tents.?A few years ago, this facility shut down,?after inmates rebelled.?And when that happened, I was not surprised,because back when I used to represent clients there,?stories of rape, harassment and abuse were common.?Eventually, the county lost a few hundred jobs.?Even the Walmart shut down.?But then, in the summer of 2018,?when the refurbished prison was ramping up to reopen,?the county's elected officials celebrated.Why was the county so interested??It owned the prison, and the private company just ran it.?Having prisoners on the inside?meant that the private company could hire guards,?and it could hire nurses,?and it meant that the county could pay its bills.

這不是黨派問題。?這是一個利潤問題。?對于地方政府和私營企業(yè)來說，?移民監(jiān)獄是一個金融龍頭。?美國最大的兩家私人監(jiān)獄公司CoreCivic 和 GEO Group?從聯(lián)邦政府獲得了大約一半的資金。?有了這個，他們在偏僻的地方雇用人，?那里很難找到體面的工作。?在德克薩斯州南部，從邊境向北行駛，?最終，您會聞?到空氣中彌漫著洋蔥的刺鼻惡臭。?雷蒙德維爾的地方經(jīng)濟——?那是威拉西縣的縣城——?它依靠農(nóng)產(chǎn)品——?農(nóng)產(chǎn)品和監(jiān)獄。?威拉西縣拘留中心隱藏在州監(jiān)獄后面，?將聯(lián)邦移民囚犯安置?在大型帆布帳篷中。?幾年前，在囚犯叛亂后，這個設(shè)施關(guān)閉了。?當那件事發(fā)生時，我并不感到驚訝，?因為當我曾經(jīng)在那里代表客戶時，?強奸、騷擾和虐待的故事很常見。?最終，該縣失去了數(shù)百個工作崗位。?連沃爾瑪都關(guān)門了。但隨后，在 2018 年夏天，?當翻新的監(jiān)獄加速重新開放時，?該縣的民選官員慶祝了這一點。?為什么縣城如此感興趣？?它擁有監(jiān)獄，私人公司只是經(jīng)營它。?里面有囚犯?這意味著私人公司可以雇傭警衛(wèi)，也可以雇傭護士，?這意味著該縣可以支付賬單。

With support from Washington down to Willacy County,?it's a good time to be in the business of locking up migrants.?But we can't forget that these are people who we're talking about,?from kids who are too young to be asked their opinions,?to adults with longtime ties to the United States.

在從華盛頓到威拉西縣的支持下，?現(xiàn)在是從事關(guān)押移民業(yè)務(wù)的好時機。?但我們不能忘記，我們正在談?wù)摰木褪沁@些人，?從年齡太小而無法被征求意見的孩子，?到與美國有著長期聯(lián)系的成年人。

Diego and Wendy were stuck inside that old nursing home turned prison,?waiting for the legal process to slowly grind forward.?Just one when he arrived,?Diego was three by the time he got out.Eventually, he won his legal case to stay in the United States,?but not before 650 nights passed.

迭戈和溫蒂被困在那個由養(yǎng)老院變成監(jiān)獄的老房子里，?等待法律程序慢慢推進。?他到達時只有一歲，?迭戈出來時才三歲。?最終，他贏得了留在美國的法律訴訟，?但不是在 650 晚過去之前。

And yet ...?others are not so lucky.?Kamyar Samimi ...?had a green card and 40 years in the United States,?when one day, ICE showed up at his door?and took him down to a private prison in suburban Denver.?Within 13 days,?he was dead.?The government never got around to deciding?if he should be deported.

然而……?其他人就沒那么幸運了。?Kamyar Samimi ...?擁有綠卡并在美國生活了 40 年，?有一天，ICE 出現(xiàn)在他家門口?，將他帶到丹佛郊區(qū)的一所私人監(jiān)獄。?13天之內(nèi)，?他就死了。?政府從來沒有決定是否應(yīng)該將他驅(qū)逐出境。

In this topsy-turvy world,?we feel better when we lock up kids with their mothers,?or when people don’t meet the same end as Mr. Samimi.?Is this really the best that we can do?

在這個亂七八糟的世界里，當我們把孩子關(guān)在他們的母親身邊，?或者當人們的結(jié)局與薩米米先生不同時，我們會感覺更好。?這真的是我們能做的最好的嗎？

The path to a world that's free of immigration prisons?does not begin by pretending that migrants are perfect.?It starts with a reality check.?Immigration law tells us that migrants are aliens.But we all know that migrants are not aliens.?Migrants are just people.?And like most people,?most of the time, migrants are profoundly ordinary --?ordinary people asked to do the extraordinary:?wage your final fight to stay in this country?while you are locked up far away from family, your friends --?where lawyers are hard to come by.?To fix this and move toward a world without immigration prisons,?let's stop paying CoreCivic and the GEO Group?to lock up migrants,?and let's start paying lawyers to defend them.

通往沒有移民監(jiān)獄的世界的道路?并不是從假裝移民是完美的開始。它從現(xiàn)實檢查開始。?移民法告訴我們移民是外國人。?但我們都知道移民不是外星人。?移民只是人。?和大多數(shù)人一樣，?大多數(shù)時候，移民是極其普通的——?普通人被要求做非凡的事：?當你被關(guān)在遠離家人和朋友的地方——律師所在的地方，為留在這個國家而進行最后的斗爭?很難得。為了解決這個問題并走向一個沒有移民監(jiān)獄的世界，讓我們停止支付 CoreCivic 和 GEO 集團來關(guān)押移民，?讓我們開始付錢請律師為他們辯護。

Having a lawyer just means that the courts are more likely to reach?a fair and a just conclusion.?And when it comes to important legal questions,?let's be honest,?what's more American that a fight between lawyers?

擁有律師只是意味著法院更有可能?得出公平公正的結(jié)論。?當涉及到重要的法律問題時，?老實說，?比律師之間的斗爭更美國化的是什么？

And we've done this in the past.?The government has run several pilot projects.?Every time, support has proven enough to get migrants out of prison,?to keep them on top of their court dates and away from trouble.?But we've never let these projects grow.Politics and profits have always stamped out?the promise of freedom.?We can lock up migrants,?but we don't have to.?Instead of hoping that barbed wire and steel doors?will guide us out of the labyrinth of immigration law,?we could invest in justice.?We could make sure that every migrant?has a fair chance of putting their best legal case forward.?Because immigration prisons don't get us out of a problem.?Immigration prisons are the problem.

我們過去也這樣做過。?政府已經(jīng)開展了幾個試點項目。?每一次，支持都被證明足以讓移民出獄，?讓他們保持在法庭日期之上，遠離麻煩。?但我們從未讓這些項目發(fā)展壯大。?政治和利潤總是扼殺?自由的承諾。?我們可以關(guān)押移民，?但我們不必這樣做。?我們可以投資于正義，而不是希望鐵絲網(wǎng)和鋼門?能夠引導(dǎo)我們走出移民法的迷宮。?我們可以確保每個移民都有公平的機會提出他們最好的法律案件。因為移民監(jiān)獄不能讓我們擺脫問題。?移民監(jiān)獄是問題所在。

They blind us to the past, when we did things differently,?and they distract us from the moneymaking tentacles?that tie our future to the prison gates.

當我們以不同的方式做事時，它們使我們對過去視而不見，它們分散了我們對?將我們的未來與監(jiān)獄大門聯(lián)系在一起的賺錢觸角的注意力。

Well, the thing is,?liberty is too precious for any of us to lose itbecause politicians want votes?and private corporations want money.

好吧，問題是，?自由對我們?nèi)魏稳藖碚f都太寶貴了，不能?因為政客想要選票?而私人公司想要錢而失去它。