The US Can Move past Immigration Prisons – and towards Justice | César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández

翻译人员: Yan Ma 校对人员: suya f.

Outside of Philadelphia,

在费城郊外，

there is an old nursing home that peaks out from behind lush trees.

丛林掩映之中， 矗立一座年代久远的疗养院。

Instead of caring for the old, these days, it detains the young.

但如今，它却不再是 老人们颐养天年的地方，

而是变成了年轻人的拘留所。

Kids who came to the United States with their parents.

限制着那些与父母一起 来到美国的孩子们。

Inside its hallways,

在疗养院的走廊里，

a little boy named Diego went from diapers to detention.

一位名叫迪亚戈（Diego） 的男孩被羁押于此时，还只是襁褓婴儿。

When he was just one year old,

迪亚戈一岁时，

Diego's mother, Wendy, decided that life in Honduras was too dangerous

他的母亲温迪（Wendy） 认为他们在洪都拉斯的生活

太过于危险所以不适合呆在那里。

for them to stay.

因此，就像全球各地历代人所做的那样，

Like people from all over the world have done for generations,

Diego and Wendy turned to the United States for safety.

他们来到美国寻求庇护。

If you are in the United States and you are afraid for your life,

如果你身处美国境内， 并且认为自己的生命安全受到威胁，

federal law is clear that you can ask for asylum.

联邦法律明确规定， 你可以寻求政治避难。

It does not matter where you came from or how you got here.

无论你来自何方、如何入境。

Diego and Wendy did just that.

迪亚戈和温迪正是这样做的。

Within a few days,

但几天之后，

they found themselves inside that Pennsylvania immigration prison.

他们却被关进了在 宾夕法尼亚州的移民监狱。

Two among half a million people

迪亚戈和温迪的处境是移民现状的缩影。

who will be locked up every single year,

每年，都有五十万移民在监禁中，

while the government decides

苦苦等待政府决定 他们是否能够留在美国。

if they will be allowed to stay in the United States.

Instead of a fair match

这并不是一场公诉人和 辩护律师间的公平角逐，

between a prosecutor and a defense attorney,

imprisoned migrants usually walk into court alone.

身陷囹圄的移民们通常只能独自上庭。

It's a high-stakes legal battle

这是有关律法的豪赌，

that they are forced to fight with their hands tied behind their backs.

他们被迫带着镣铐为自己发声。

As the courts deliberate, the days pass.

法院斟酌深思，时光匆匆流逝。

From your community to mine, today, someone is locked up

如今，你我所在的社区中，

就有一些从未犯下任何 罪行的人失去自由。

who has not been accused of any crime.

Often, they haven't seen a judge or even a lawyer.

通常情况下，他们从未见到法官， 甚至从未见到律师。

And yet, in most immigration prisons

即便如此，我以律师或研究员的身份 走访过的大多数移民监狱

that I have visited as a lawyer or a researcher,

the steel door is closed shut with the clink of confinement.

仍旧铁门紧锁，镣铐叮当。

For the sake of votes,

为了获得更多选票，

politicians claim people like Diego and Wendy are dangerous, or dishonest.

政治家们声称，迪亚戈和温迪 那样的人是危险的、不可信的。

For the sake of profits,

为了获得更大的利润，

private corporations run prisons to house them.

私营企业经营着囚禁他们的监狱。

It seems unimaginable today,

或许如今的人们已无法想象，

but we haven't always locked up migrants

曾几何时，我们是不会将等候政府 决定命运的移民们关押起来的。

who are waiting for the government to decide their fate.

At one time,

曾经，

the United States stood on the verge of abolishing immigration prisons.

美国也曾站在废除移民监狱的最前沿。

"This was the sign of an enlightened civilization,"

“这是文明开放的标志”

the Supreme Court wrote in 1958.

最高法院在1985年写道。

We were so close.

我们就要成功了。

But politics and profits pushed us in the opposite direction.

不过政治和利益把却将我们推向深渊。

With the support of Republicans and Democrats,

在共和党和民主党的共同支持下，

today, we lock up men, we lock up women, and we lock up children.

如今的我们囚禁了男人， 女人，甚至儿童。

But in our past, I see hope for the future.

但我仍在我们的过去中， 看到未来的希望。

We can take clear steps toward abolishing immigration prisons.

我们可以为移民监狱 的废除之路扫清障碍。

Most people think of Ellis Island

大多数人都将爱丽丝岛看作是

as the place that welcomed generations of newcomers to the United States.

一代代移民开启美国梦的地方。

It did that,

它也的确如此，

but it was also an immigration prison

但爱丽丝岛同时也是一所移民监狱，

with an ironic view of the Statue of Liberty.

一所因为能看到自由女神像 而十分的移民监狱。

By the 1950s, the Ellis Island facility needed to be repaired,

20世纪50年代， 爱丽丝岛上的设施急需修缮、

replaced or discarded.

替换或淘汰。

The government of the war hero turned Republican president,

从政的战争英雄德怀特·艾森豪威尔 所组建的共和党政府

Dwight Eisenhower,

decided to shut it down.

决定关闭爱丽丝岛。

But then, starting in the late 1970s,

但紧接着，自20世纪70年代始，

the United States built the largest immigration prison system in the world.

美国建立了世界上最大的移民监狱系统。

Republicans and Democrats worked together,

共和党和民主党倾力合作，

pointing to the prison's barbed wire to uphold the law to protect you ...

将监狱上方的铁丝网视作维护法律的利器，

from me.

以保护你们免受来自“我”的伤害。

When Haitians started arriving in large numbers in the 1970s,

20世纪70年代，当海地人大量涌入美国时，

Carter turned to detention.

卡特政府转而采取羁押政策。

In the 1980s, Reagan followed by jailing Cubans and Central Americans.

80年代，里根政府延续了这一政策， 羁押了大批古巴和中美洲移民。

George H. W. Bush turned to the military base at Guantanamo, Cuba,

乔治·布什甚至将位于 古巴关塔那摩的军事基地

to jail migrants.

用以关押移民。

President Clinton left them there.

克林顿时期也是如此。

This isn't a partisan issue.

这不是立场的问题。

This is a profits issue.

这是利益的问题。

To local governments and private businesses,

在地方政府和私人企业眼中，

immigration prisons are a financial spigot.

移民监狱是极佳的敛财手段。

The two largest private prison corporations in the United States,

美国最大的两家私营惩教公司——

CoreCivic and the GEO Group,

美国惩教公司（CoreCivic） 和GEO 集团，

get about half of their money from the federal government.

有一半资金的来自政府。

With that, they hire people in out-of-the-way locations,

惩教公司用这些钱，从偏远地区雇人，

where decent-paying jobs are hard to come by.

那些地方的人们很难 找到报酬合理的工作。

Down in South Texas, head north from the border,

从得克萨斯南部边境向北行进，

and eventually, you will catch the sharp stench of onions

最终，你会被空气中弥漫着 的刺鼻的洋葱气味包围。

filling the air.

The local economy of Raymondville --

威拉西县政府所在地雷蒙德维尔 （Raymondville）的地方经济

that's the county seat of Willacy County --

it runs on produce --

依赖于农产品，

on produce and on prisons.

农产品和监狱。

Tucked behind a state jail,

洲监狱后身，

the Willacy County Detention Center houses federal immigration prisoners

便是威拉西县惩教中心，

惩教中心的帆布帐篷中， 居住着大量羁押候审的移民。

in large canvas tents.

A few years ago, this facility shut down,

几年前，那里发生了移民动乱， 该机构随之被关停。

after inmates rebelled.

And when that happened, I was not surprised,

我对此并不惊讶，

because back when I used to represent clients there,

因为，我曾是那里的移民代理律师，

stories of rape, harassment and abuse were common.

彼时的人们对那里的强奸、 骚扰和虐待事件司空见惯。

Eventually, the county lost a few hundred jobs.

最终，该县失去了数百个工作岗位。

Even the Walmart shut down.

连沃尔玛超市也被迫关闭。

But then, in the summer of 2018,

但在2018年的夏天，

when the refurbished prison was ramping up to reopen,

当修缮后的监狱重新开放，

the county's elected officials celebrated.

该县经由选举产生的官员们弹冠相庆。

Why was the county so interested?

该县为何会对重启监狱如此感兴趣？

It owned the prison, and the private company just ran it.

（因为）私营企业只是监狱的经营者， 监狱由县政府实际控制。

Having prisoners on the inside

在监狱中填满囚犯，

meant that the private company could hire guards,

意味着企业可以招募守卫、

and it could hire nurses,

护士，

and it meant that the county could pay its bills.

也就意味着县政府能够支付账单。

With support from Washington down to Willacy County,

来自华盛顿的支持一级级浸润， 惠及威拉西县，

it's a good time to be in the business of locking up migrants.

移民监禁生意前景一片大好。

But we can't forget that these are people who we're talking about,

但我们不能忽略， 我们所谈论的是活生生的人，

from kids who are too young to be asked their opinions,

是懵懂无知的孩童，

to adults with longtime ties to the United States.

也是在美国长期生活， 深深植根其中的成年人。

Diego and Wendy were stuck inside that old nursing home turned prison,

迪亚戈和温迪被困在那个 由疗养院改造而成的监狱，

waiting for the legal process to slowly grind forward.

等待着法律程序缓缓推进。

Just one when he arrived,

迪亚戈来到美国的时候只有一岁，

Diego was three by the time he got out.

重获自由是已经三岁。

Eventually, he won his legal case to stay in the United States,

最终，他赢得了合法居留美国的权利，

but not before 650 nights passed.

可在此之前，他已在监狱中 度过了650个日夜。

And yet ...

但另一边，

others are not so lucky.

其他人并没有那么幸运。

Kamyar Samimi ...

卡米亚尔·萨米米 （Kamyar Samimi）

had a green card and 40 years in the United States,

持有绿卡，且已经在美国生活了40年，

when one day, ICE showed up at his door

一天，ICE（移民海关执行署） 敲响了他的房门。

and took him down to a private prison in suburban Denver.

把他押送到了位于 丹佛郊外的私人监狱中。

Within 13 days,

短短十三天后，

he was dead.

他死了。

The government never got around to deciding

政府从未对他是否应该被 驱逐出境的问题作出决定。

if he should be deported.

In this topsy-turvy world,

在这个混乱失序的世界里，

we feel better when we lock up kids with their mothers,

我们更能接受将孩子和 他们的母亲关在一起，

or when people don’t meet the same end as Mr. Samimi.

当人们无需面对与 萨米米（Samimi）先生

相同的结局的时候， 我们也会感觉更好。

Is this really the best that we can do?

但这真的是我们能做的全部么？

The path to a world that's free of immigration prisons

通往没有移民监狱的世界之路

does not begin by pretending that migrants are perfect.

并非是要假定移民都是完美的。

It starts with a reality check.

而是要始于对现实情况的正确认识。

Immigration law tells us that migrants are aliens.

移民法传递出的消息是， 移民是格格不入的。

But we all know that migrants are not aliens.

但我们都知道事实并非如此。

Migrants are just people.

移民也只是普通人。

And like most people,

和大多数人一样，

most of the time, migrants are profoundly ordinary --

大多数时间里，移民都非常平凡——

ordinary people asked to do the extraordinary:

却被要求做非凡的事：

wage your final fight to stay in this country

为留在这个国家背水一战，

while you are locked up far away from family, your friends --

家人和朋友不得相见，

where lawyers are hard to come by.

也难以获得律师的帮助。

To fix this and move toward a world without immigration prisons,

为了解决这一问题，向着创造 没有移民监狱的世界的目标前进，

let's stop paying CoreCivic and the GEO Group

让我们停止对 美国惩教公司（CoreCivic）

和GEO 集团的资金支持，

to lock up migrants,

使他们有足够的资金关押移民，

and let's start paying lawyers to defend them.

让我们雇佣律师为他们辩护。

(Cheers and applause)

（喝彩和掌声）

Having a lawyer just means that the courts are more likely to reach

有律师在场也只是能让法庭更倾向于作出

a fair and a just conclusion.

公平公正的裁决。

And when it comes to important legal questions,

并且，当重要的法律问题浮现时，

let's be honest,

说实话，

what's more American that a fight between lawyers?

还有比律师间的激辩更“美国”的么？

(Laughter)

（笑声）

And we've done this in the past.

这样的做法是有先例的。

The government has run several pilot projects.

政府经营了几个试点项目。

Every time, support has proven enough to get migrants out of prison,

每次，项目获得的各方支持 都足以使移民离开监狱，

to keep them on top of their court dates and away from trouble.

使他们能够以最好 的状态上庭，远离麻烦。

But we've never let these projects grow.

但这些项目却没能发展起来。

Politics and profits have always stamped out

政治和利益总会镇压住对自由的承诺。

the promise of freedom.

We can lock up migrants,

我们可以关押移民，

but we don't have to.

但这不是唯一的选择。

Instead of hoping that barbed wire and steel doors

除了寄希望于用尖锐 的防盗网和紧锁的铁门

will guide us out of the labyrinth of immigration law,

绕过错从复杂的移民法律，

we could invest in justice.

我们还可以在司法制度上下功夫。

We could make sure that every migrant

我们可以确保每个移民

has a fair chance of putting their best legal case forward.

都能享有均等的机会， 采用最佳的法律策略。

Because immigration prisons don't get us out of a problem.

因为移民监狱并不能解决 我们所面临的问题。

Immigration prisons are the problem.

移民监狱本身就是问题所在。

(Cheers and applause)

（喝彩声和掌声）

They blind us to the past, when we did things differently,

当我们采用新的方法时， 它使我们无视过往的经验，

and they distract us from the moneymaking tentacles

并且，它掩藏了暴利的触手，

that tie our future to the prison gates.

将我们的未来与监狱的大门 紧紧吸附在一起。

Well, the thing is,

嗯，问题是，

liberty is too precious for any of us to lose it

我们承担不起失去自由的代价，

because politicians want votes

因为政治家只想要选票，

and private corporations want money.

企业只想要金钱。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Cheers and applause)

（喝彩声和掌声）