在线英语听力室

美国国家公共电台 NPR--No, the 53 migrants who died in Texas didn't likely cross the border in that truck

时间:2023-07-18 07:04:03

搜索关注在线英语听力室公众号:tingroom,领取免费英语资料大礼包。

(单词翻译)

No, the 53 migrants who died in Texas didn't likely cross the border in that truck

Transcript1

The tragic2 deaths of at least 53 people in a tractor trailer in San Antonio are an emphatic3 reminder4 of the dangers migrants face — and how the risks have only gotten higher as both law enforcement and smugglers use increasingly sophisticated methods trying to outwit each other.

The trapped people were found only after a worker heard someone crying for help, leading to the discovery of dozens of bodies. Just 16 people — 12 adults and four children — were initially5 found alive; five of them later died at area hospitals.

San Antonio was the site of a similar tragedy in 2017, when 10 migrants died. They were found with dozens of other people in an unventilated trailer that was left sitting in the summer heat at a Wal-Mart parking lot.

"Honestly, I'm surprised that it doesn't happen more often," said Roger Enriquez, an associate professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio, "because of the gauntlet that folks have to run in order to get to this country."

Also not surprised: Jerry Robinette, who until 2013 was the special agent in charge in San Antonio for Homeland Security Investigations6, a branch of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

While the scale of the latest tragedy is shocking, he said, the fact that it happened isn't surprising, given the prevalence of using semis to transport migrants.

"I can assure you it happens more than we realize," he tells NPR. "And obviously, more get by than we catch. So I can only imagine just how pervasive7 the practice is."

As that suggests, the tragedy also says a lot about U.S. immigration at the southern border.

It's not as basic as crowding into a truck in Mexico

Both Robinette and Enriquez believe the migrants were not likely brought over the border from Mexico in the truck.

"This is a very sophisticated operation that entails8 vast networks into Mexico, Central America, all the way back up into Texas and the Midwest, East, West Coast, what have you," said Enriquez, who is also the executive director of Westside Community Partnerships9 in San Antonio.

"The tractor trailer part of the journey may very well end here, but it didn't start necessarily in Mexico because [U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents] use very sophisticated undercarriage X-ray systems," he added.

People who want to evade10 the authorities face an array of challenges, from X-rays to K-9 teams and cameras. As in the 2017 tragedy, it's likely that people who were in the trailer in San Antonio this week had crossed the border on foot, before gathering11 in Laredo to be loaded into a truck.

"Very frequently what happens is that they're guided around the Border Patrol checkpoints, and then they're reunited and picked up by a tractor trailer driver," Robinette said.

"In many instances, once they get to a big city like San Antonio, they will then go in smaller vehicles, Suburbans or vans," into other parts of the U.S., Enriquez said.

The truck in San Antonio was "cloned," a company says

The truck found in San Antonio bore numbers and other identifiers suggesting it was operated by Betancourt Trucking And Harvesting, based in Alamo along the border. But the company's owners told NPR their truck, a red Volvo, has nothing to do with the truck holding stricken migrants.

They say the smugglers apparently12 "cloned" information from their vehicle to elude13 scrutiny14.

"The [license] plates don't correspond to us," Felipe Betancourt Jr. said. "The only thing that got stolen from us was the Texas DOT number and the USDA number on the side of the truck."

Betancourt, who says his company has been helping15 farms harvest and ship watermelons and other produce grown in the Rio Grande Valley, said that when he and his father were contacted about the truck, it took them a moment to figure out what was going on.

"All those people," he said. "I mean, we're still in shock right now."

San Antonio is a hub for cargo16, including migrants

The city is just 150 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, on two busy corridors that reach across the U.S.: I-10 running between Los Angeles and Florida and I-35 running from the border crossing at Laredo up north to Minnesota.

"Once you get to San Antonio, you can go to Houston, you can go to Dallas, you can go further north into the Midwest. Of course, I-35 goes all the way up to Minnesota," Enriquez said. "So it is an important corridor for goods and unfortunately, also for smuggling17 and the trafficking of persons."

Human traffickers thrive in areas where their trucks can mix in with other vehicles. And in Laredo, thousands of trucks cross the border each day. Smugglers operate their own logistics chain — but with safehouses instead of warehouses18.

"I mean, it is literally19 a needle in a haystack," Robinette said. "If you've ever been to that border, you just see the frequency and the volume of trucks that are traveling northbound through the different checkpoints. It's a miracle that [agents] come across what they do come across."

Mexican Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said in a tweet that the dead include 22 Mexicans, 7 Guatemalans and 2 Hondurans. The others have not yet been identified.

Migrants pay tens of thousands of dollars to smugglers

For migrants, the financial costs of crossing are steep.

"We've heard reports of tens of thousands of dollars, depending on where they're coming from and where their destination is," Enriquez said.

"We also have to keep in mind that many of these folks already have family in the United States, and they're simply either trying to reunify with family here" or are in families with mixed citizenship20, he said. In turn, loved ones who are working in the U.S. often help migrants raise the money to pay smugglers' steep fees, Enriquez added.

"It's a terrible human tragedy, and it continues to happen on a too-regular basis, because we have really failed to address two of the most important components21 of immigration law, which is family reunification and labor," he said.

Noting flaws in the U.S. guest worker program and other issues, Enriquez added, "Basically, we've stayed in a holding pattern for the last 10 or 15 years."

One thing that has changed is the difficulty of crossing into the U.S. Because of the measures people take to elude new technologies, Enriquez said, migrants' journeys continue to get more dangerous.

Another part of the problem, Robinette said, is that when things go wrong, human traffickers will look after themselves first.

"At the end of the day, these smugglers have very, very little value or care" for the people they're bringing into the U.S., he said.

For migrants who rely on human smugglers, the heat sharply increases the risks they face. The San Antonio area has been experiencing extreme heat, with record temperatures topping 100 degrees this month.

"Any mistakes are essentially22 a death sentence to folks," Enriquez said, adding that if a driver doesn't show up on time to pick up a load, or if a refrigeration unit fails, "You're putting folks in a tremendous amount of peril23."

Robinette says the U.S. has long sent mixed messages to would-be migrants, who then risk everything for the chance of a better life, despite the dangers and the threat of prosecution24.

Until the U.S. can change the dynamic, he said, "we're going to have people doing anything and everything they can to try to get in here and many times risking their lives, like they did in this situation."


分享到:


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 transcript JgpzUp     
n.抄本,誊本,副本,肄业证书
参考例句:
  • A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
  • They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。
2 tragic inaw2     
adj.悲剧的,悲剧性的,悲惨的
参考例句:
  • The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
  • Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。
3 emphatic 0P1zA     
adj.强调的,着重的;无可置疑的,明显的
参考例句:
  • Their reply was too emphatic for anyone to doubt them.他们的回答很坚决,不容有任何人怀疑。
  • He was emphatic about the importance of being punctual.他强调严守时间的重要性。
4 reminder WkzzTb     
n.提醒物,纪念品;暗示,提示
参考例句:
  • I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
  • It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知,她才付应该交的房租。
5 initially 273xZ     
adv.最初,开始
参考例句:
  • The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
  • Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。
6 investigations 02de25420938593f7db7bd4052010b32     
(正式的)调查( investigation的名词复数 ); 侦查; 科学研究; 学术研究
参考例句:
  • His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查,但没有发现什么。
  • He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。
7 pervasive T3zzH     
adj.普遍的;遍布的,(到处)弥漫的;渗透性的
参考例句:
  • It is the most pervasive compound on earth.它是地球上最普遍的化合物。
  • The adverse health effects of car exhaust are pervasive and difficult to measure.汽车尾气对人类健康所构成的有害影响是普遍的,并且难以估算。
8 entails bc08bbfc5f8710441959edc8dadcb925     
使…成为必要( entail的第三人称单数 ); 需要; 限定继承; 使必需
参考例句:
  • The job entails a lot of hard work. 这工作需要十分艰苦的努力。
  • This job entails a lot of hard work. 这项工作需要十分努力。
9 partnerships ce2e6aff420d72bbf56e8077be344bc9     
n.伙伴关系( partnership的名词复数 );合伙人身份;合作关系
参考例句:
  • Partnerships suffer another major disadvantage: decision-making is shared. 合伙企业的另一主要缺点是决定要由大家来作。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
  • It involved selling off limited partnerships. 它涉及到售出有限的合伙权。 来自辞典例句
10 evade evade     
vt.逃避,回避;避开,躲避
参考例句:
  • He tried to evade the embarrassing question.他企图回避这令人难堪的问题。
  • You are in charge of the job.How could you evade the issue?你是负责人,你怎么能对这个问题不置可否?
11 gathering ChmxZ     
n.集会,聚会,聚集
参考例句:
  • He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
  • He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。
12 apparently tMmyQ     
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎
参考例句:
  • An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽,豁然开朗。
  • He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。
13 elude hjuzc     
v.躲避,困惑
参考例句:
  • If you chase it,it will elude you.如果你追逐着它, 它会躲避你。
  • I had dared and baffled his fury.I must elude his sorrow.我曾经面对过他的愤怒,并且把它挫败了;现在我必须躲避他的悲哀。
14 scrutiny ZDgz6     
n.详细检查,仔细观察
参考例句:
  • His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好,但是经不起仔细检查。
  • Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。
15 helping 2rGzDc     
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的,辅助的
参考例句:
  • The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
  • By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。
16 cargo 6TcyG     
n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物
参考例句:
  • The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
  • A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。
17 smuggling xx8wQ     
n.走私
参考例句:
  • Some claimed that the docker's union fronted for the smuggling ring.某些人声称码头工人工会是走私集团的掩护所。
  • The evidence pointed to the existence of an international smuggling network.证据表明很可能有一个国际走私网络存在。
18 warehouses 544959798565126142ca2820b4f56271     
仓库,货栈( warehouse的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The whisky was taken to bonded warehouses at Port Dundee. 威士忌酒已送到邓迪港的保稅仓库。
  • Row upon row of newly built warehouses line the waterfront. 江岸新建的仓库鳞次栉比。
19 literally 28Wzv     
adv.照字面意义,逐字地;确实
参考例句:
  • He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
  • Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候,她不走到真正要昏厥了,决不肯坐下来。
20 citizenship AV3yA     
n.市民权,公民权,国民的义务(身份)
参考例句:
  • He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生,但没有瑞典公民身分。
  • Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后,她选择了澳大利亚国籍。
21 components 4725dcf446a342f1473a8228e42dfa48     
(机器、设备等的)构成要素,零件,成分; 成分( component的名词复数 ); [物理化学]组分; [数学]分量; (混合物的)组成部分
参考例句:
  • the components of a machine 机器部件
  • Our chemistry teacher often reduces a compound to its components in lab. 在实验室中化学老师常把化合物分解为各种成分。
22 essentially nntxw     
adv.本质上,实质上,基本上
参考例句:
  • Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
  • She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。
23 peril l3Dz6     
n.(严重的)危险;危险的事物
参考例句:
  • The refugees were in peril of death from hunger.难民有饿死的危险。
  • The embankment is in great peril.河堤岌岌可危。
24 prosecution uBWyL     
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。

本文本内容来源于互联网抓取和网友提交,仅供参考,部分栏目没有内容,如果您有更合适的内容,欢迎 点击提交 分享给大家。