Last summer, I got a call from a woman named Ellie. And she had heard about the family separations at the southern border and wanted to know what she could do to help. She told me the story of her grandfather and his father. When they were kids in Poland, their father, fearing for his son's safety, gave them a little bit of money and told them to walk west, to just keep walking west across Europe. And they did. They walked all the way west across Europe, and they got on a boat and they got to America. Ellie said that when she heard the stories of the teens walking up across Mexico, all she could think about was her grandfather and his brother. She said that for her, the stories were exactly the same.
去年夏天,有位名叫 艾莉的女子打電話給我。 她聽說了在南方邊境 家庭會被拆散的事情, 她想要知道她能如何協助。 她跟我說了她的祖父和父親的故事。 他們小時候,還在波蘭時, 他們的父親,憂心兒子的安全, 給了他們一點錢,叫他們向西行, 一直向西走,穿越歐洲。 他們照做了。 他們一路走到了西歐, 他們搭上一艘船,到了美國。 艾莉說,當她聽到青少年 步行穿過墨西哥的故事, 她滿腦子都是她的祖父和兄弟。 她說,對她而言, 這些故事一模一樣。
Those brothers were the Hassenfeld Brothers -- the "Has" "bros" -- the Hasbro toy company, which, of course, brought us Mr. Potato Head.
那些兄弟是海森費德兄弟—— 「海氏」「兄弟」—— 「孩之寶」玩具公司, 也就是帶給我們 「蛋頭先生」的玩具公司。
But that is not actually why I'm telling you this story. I'm telling you this story because it made me think about whether I would have the faith, the courage, to send my teens -- and I have three of them -- on a journey like that. Knowing that they wouldn't be safe where we were, would I be able to watch them go?
但這並不是我跟各位 分享這個故事的原因。 我想分享這個故事, 是因為它讓我思考 我是否會有那樣的信心、 勇氣, 將我的青少年孩子—— 我有三個—— 送上那樣的旅程。 如果我知道他們待在 我們原本的地方並不安全, 我是否能目送著他們離開?
I started my career decades ago at the southern US border, working with Central American asylum seekers. And in the last 16 years, I've been at HIAS, the Jewish organization that fights for refugee rights around the world, as a lawyer and an advocate. And one thing I've learned is that, sometimes, the things that we're told make us safer and stronger actually don't. And, in fact, some of these policies have the opposite of the intended results and in the meantime, cause tremendous and unnecessary suffering.
數十年前,我在美國南方 邊境開始了我的職涯, 處理尋求庇護的中美人士。 在過去十六年間,我待在 希伯來移民援助協會(HIAS), 它是個猶太組織, 在全世界為難民權力而戰, 我的工作是律師及倡導者。 我學到的其中一件事就是,有時, 我們聽說能夠讓我們更安全、 更強壯的那些政策, 並非這麼回事。 事實上,這些政策當中, 有些會產生和本意相反的結果, 同時,還會造成巨大 又不必要的痛苦。
So why are people showing up at our southern border? Most of the immigrants and refugees that are coming to our southern border are fleeing three countries: Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. These countries are consistently ranked among the most violent countries in the world. It's very difficult to be safe in these countries, let alone build a future for yourself and your family. And violence against women and girls is pervasive. People have been fleeing Central America for generations. Generations of refugees have been coming to our shores, fleeing the civil wars of the 1980s, in which the United States was deeply involved. This is nothing new. What's new is that recently, there's been a spike in families, children and families, showing up at checkpoints and presenting themselves to seek asylum.
所以,為什麼會有人 出現在我們的南方邊境? 大部分來到我們南方邊境的 外來移民或難民, 都是從這三個國家逃出來的: 瓜地馬拉、宏都拉斯、薩爾瓦多。 這些國家一直都在 世界上最暴力的國家的 排行榜上名列前茅。 在這些國家裡很難求得安全, 更不可能為你自己 和你的家人建立一個未來。 而且針對女人和女孩的暴力非常普遍。 數世代以來, 一直有人試圖逃離中美洲。 數個世代的難民不斷 來到我們的海岸, 躲避 1980 年代的內戰, 而美國和這些內戰有很深的關聯。 這不是新聞。 新聞是,最近突然有大量的家庭, 孩童和家庭,出現在檢查站, 自稱要尋求庇護。
Now, this has been in the news lately, so I want you to remember a few things as you see those images. One, this is not a historically high level of interceptions at the southern border, and, in fact, people are presenting themselves at checkpoints. Two, people are showing up with the clothes on their backs; some of them are literally in flip-flops. And three, we're the most powerful country in the world. It's not a time to panic. It's easy from the safety of the destination country to think in terms of absolutes: Is it legal, or is it illegal? But the people who are wrestling with these questions and making these decisions about their families are thinking about very different questions: How do I keep my daughter safe? How do I protect my son? And if you want absolutes, it's absolutely legal to seek asylum. It is a fundamental right in our own laws and in international law. And, in fact --
這是這陣子的新聞, 我希望各位在看這些影像時, 能記住幾件事。 第一,在南方邊境,這不是 歷史上屬於大規模的攔截行動。 事實上,大家是自己出現在檢查站。 第二,大家會背著衣物現身, 有些人還真的穿著人字拖。 第三,我們是世界上最強大的國家。 不是我們需要慌張的時候。 從目的地國家的安全角度, 來做黑白分明的思考是很容易的: 它是合法的或者不合法的? 但在努力解決這些問題, 並做出攸關家人之決定的這些人, 腦袋裡想的問題非常不同: 我要如何確保我的女兒安全? 我要如何保護我的兒子? 如果我們要黑白分明的答案, 尋求庇護是絕對合法的。 在我們自己的法律及國際法中, 它都是一項基本權利。 且,事實上——
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it stems from the 1951 Refugee Convention, which was the world's response to the Holocaust and a way for countries to say never again would we return people to countries where they would harmed or killed.
它源自 1951 年的難民地位公約, 該公約是世界對於 猶太人大屠殺做出的回應, 它也是這些國家的聲明, 表示我們不會把人送回到 會讓他們被傷害或殺害的國家。
There are several ways refugees come to this country. One is through the US Refugee Admissions Program. Through that program, the US identifies and selects refugees abroad and brings them to the United States. Last year, the US resettled fewer refugees than at any time since the program began in 1980. And this year, it'll probably be less. And this is at a time when we have more refugees in the world than at any other time in recorded history, even since World War II.
難民要到美國,有好幾種方式。 其一是透過美國難民接納計畫。 美國透過該計畫來找出、 選擇國外的難民, 並將他們帶到美國。 去年,美國安頓的難民人數 是 1980 年該計畫 啟動以來最低的人數。 今年,可能還會更低。 現在這個時候, 全世界難民數超過了 有歷史記錄的任何年代, 甚至二次大戰之後的。
Another way that refugees come to this country is by seeking asylum. Asylum seekers are people who present themselves at a border and say that they'll be persecuted if they're sent back home. An asylum seeker is simply somebody who's going through the process in the United States to prove that they meet the refugee definition. And it's never been more difficult to seek asylum. Border guards are telling people when they show up at our borders that our country's full, that they simply can't apply. This is unprecedented and illegal. Under a new program, with the kind of Orwellian title "Migrant Protection Protocols," refugees are told they have to wait in Mexico while their cases make their way through the courts in the United States, and this can take months or years. Meanwhile, they're not safe, and they have no access to lawyers.
難民要進入美國的 另一個方式,就是尋求庇護。 要尋求庇護的人,會直接到邊境去, 宣稱如果他們被遣送 回家就會被迫害。 尋求庇護的人, 就只是在美國要跑完整個流程的人, 證明他們符合難民的定義。 以前要尋求庇護沒有這麼困難。 當難民到達邊境時, 邊境巡警就只是告訴他們, 我們的國家滿了,不接受申請。 這是史無前例且不合法的。 現在有一個新計畫, 名稱很歐威爾式, 叫做「移民保護協定」, 難民被告知他們得要在墨西哥 等待他們的案子 通過美國法庭的審核, 可能要花上數個月甚至數年。 在這期間,他們並不安全, 且他們沒有任何律師協助。
Our country, our government, has detained over 3,000 children, separating them from their parents' arms, as a deterrent from seeking asylum. Many were toddlers, and at least one was a six-year-old blind girl. And this is still going on. We spend billions to detain people in what are virtually prisons who have committed no crime. And family separation has become the hallmark of our immigration system. That's a far cry from a shining city on a hill or a beacon of hope or all of the other ways we like to talk about ourselves and our values.
我們的國家、我們的政府 拘留了超過三千名孩童, 將他們從父母的懷抱中奪走, 當作遏制尋求庇護的籌碼。 許多孩童還在學步年齡, 至少還有一位六歲的視障女孩。 這種事仍然在發生。 我們花數十億美元去把人 拘留在幾乎像是監獄的地方, 而他們都沒有犯罪。 拆散家庭已經成了我們 移民體制的招牌特色。 那根本就不是在山丘上的 閃亮都市或是希望之光, 或是我們用來訴說我們自身 及我們價值觀的任何方式。
Migration has always been with us, and it always will be. The reasons why people flee -- persecution, war, violence, climate change and the ability now to see on your phone what life is like in other places -- those pressures are only growing. But there are ways that we can have policies that reflect our values and actually make sense, given the reality in the world.
我們一直與移民共存, 這點將來也不會變。 讓人們逃離的原因—— 迫害、戰爭、暴力、 氣候變遷, 以及現在用手機就能夠看到 其他地方的生活是什麼樣子的技術—— 那些壓力只會增長。 但我們還是有辦法可以制訂出 反映我們價值觀的政策, 且在這個現實世界上 算是合理的政策。
The first thing we need to do is dial back the toxic rhetoric that has been the basis of our national debate on this issue for too long.
我們得要做的第一件事, 就是要減少有害的言論, 我們全國長久以來 針對這個議題做辯論時
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都是以這些言論為基礎。
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I am not an immigrant or a refugee myself, but I take these attacks personally, because my grandparents were. My great-grandmother Rose didn't see her kids for seven years, as she tried to bring them from Poland to New York. She left my grandfather when he was seven and didn't see him again until he was 14. On the other side of my family, my grandmother Aliza left Poland in the 1930s and left for what was then the British Mandate of Palestine, and she never saw her family and friends again. Global cooperation as a response to global migration and displacement would go a long way towards making migration something that isn't a crisis but something that just is, and that we deal with as a global community. Humanitarian aid is also critical. The amount of support we provide to countries in Central America that are sending refugees and migrants is a tiny fraction of the amount we spend on enforcement and detention. And we can absolutely have an asylum system that works. For a tiny fraction of the cost of a wall, we could hire more judges, make sure asylum seekers have lawyers and commit to a humane asylum system.
我自己並非移民或難民, 但我都覺得這些攻擊感同身受, 因為我的祖父母是難民。 我的曾祖母蘿絲試著把 她的孩子從波蘭帶到紐約時, 有七年都沒有見到他們。 她在我祖父七歲時離開他, 直到他十四歲時才再度相見。 至於我母親那一邊, 我的外婆艾莉莎 在 1930 年代離開波蘭, 前往當時的英屬巴勒斯坦託管地, 她從此沒有再見過她的家人和朋友。 用全球合作來回應全球移民和流亡 需要很長的時間,才能讓移民變成 不是一種危機, 而單純就只是移民, 我們要以全球共同體來處理它。 人道援助也很重要。 我們提供給那些造成難民和移民的 中美洲國家的援助金額, 比起我們花在強制執行 和拘留上的金額,根本微不足道。 我們絕對可以找到 一種行得通的庇護體制。 只要用建造圍牆的費用的一小部分, 我們就可以僱用更多法官, 確保尋求庇護者能有律師, 以及致力於創造 一個人道的庇護系統。
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And we could resettle more refugees. To give you a sense of the decline in the refugee program: three years ago, the US resettled 15,000 Syrian refugees in response to the largest refugee crisis on earth. A year later, that number was 3,000. And last year, that number was 62 people. 62 people.
我們能夠安置更多難民。 關於難民計畫安置人數的下降, 給大家一點概念: 三年前,美國安置了 一萬五千名敘利亞的難民, 這是美國對地球上最大的 難民危機做出的回應。 一年後,數字變為三千。 去年,數字是六十二人。 六十二人。
Despite the harsh rhetoric and efforts to block immigration, keep refugees out of the country, support for refugees and immigrants in this country, according to polls, has never been higher. Organizations like HIAS, where I work, and other humanitarian and faith-based organizations, make it easy for you to take a stand when there's a law that's worth opposing or a law that's worth supporting or a policy that needs oversight. If you have a phone, you can do something, and if you want to do more, you can. I will tell you that if you see one of these detention centers along the border with children in them -- they're jails -- you will never be the same.
儘管有嚴苛的言論 和行動來阻擋移民, 讓難民無法進入美國, 根據民調,在美國, 對於難民和移民的支持 比以往都還要高。 像我服務的 HIAS 這類組織, 以及其他人道和宗教組織, 讓你很容易採取堅定的立場, 不論是當有值得反對的法律、 有值得支援的法律, 或需要監督的政策。 如果你有手機,你就能做點什麼, 如果你想做更多也行。 我可以告訴各位,如果你們 在邊境看過其中一個拘留中心, 裡面關著孩子—— 這些地方是監獄—— 你的感覺會截然不同。
What I loved so much about my call with Ellie was that she knew in her core that the stories of her grandparents were no different than today's stories, and she wanted to do something about it.
我很喜歡我和艾莉的那通電話, 是因為她打從內心深處就知道, 她祖父母的故事 和現今的故事沒有什麼不同, 且她想要採取行動。
If I leave you with one thing, beyond the backstory for Mr. Potato Head, which is, of course, a good story to leave with, it's that a country shows strength through compassion and pragmatism, not through force and through fear.
如果今天我要留給各位什麼, 除了蛋頭先生的幕後花絮, 它的確是個可以留給大家的好故事, 但我要留給各位的是, 這個國家透過 同情心和實用主義來展現力量, 而不是透過武力和恐懼。
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(掌聲)
These stories of the Hassenfelds and my relatives and your relatives are still happening today; they're all the same. A country is strong when it says to the refugee, not, "Go away," but, "It's OK, we've got you, you're safe."
海森費德的故事、 我的親戚和你的親戚的故事, 至今仍然在發生; 都是一樣的故事。 一個強壯的國家,對難民 不會說「走開」,而會說 「沒事了,有我們罩你, 你安全了。」
Thank you.
謝謝。
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(掌聲)
Thanks.
謝謝。
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(掌聲)