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Last summer, I got a call from a woman named Ellie.
去年夏天，我接到一位叫做艾莉的女士的电话。
And she had heard about the family separations at the southern border and wanted to know what she could do to help.
她听说了我们国家南边的国界导致的家人分离，于是问我有什么她能帮忙的。
She told me the story of her grandfather and his father.
她还跟我讲了自己爷爷和爷爷的父亲的故事。
When they were kids in Poland, their father, fearing for his son's safety,
小时候他们一家生活在波兰，他的父亲因为担心儿子的安全，
gave them a little bit of money and told them to walk west, to just keep walking west across Europe. And they did.
就给了他们一点钱让他们向西走，一直穿过欧洲。他们照做了。
They walked all the way west across Europe, and they got on a boat and they got to America.
他们一路向西穿过了欧洲，然后坐上一艘船去了美国。
Ellie said that when she heard the stories of the teens walking up across Mexico,
艾莉说她听到年轻人穿越墨西哥的故事，
all she could think about was her grandfather and his brother.
就想到自己的爷爷和爷爷的兄弟。
She said that for her, the stories were exactly the same.
她觉得在她看来，这两个故事都是一样的。
Those brothers were the Hassenfeld Brothers -- the "Has" "bros"
他们就是哈森菲尔德兄弟--也叫哈森兄弟，
the Hasbro toy company, which, of course, brought us Mr. Potato Head.
就是哈森兄弟玩具公司给我们带来了土豆头先生。
But that is not actually why I'm telling you this story.
但我讲这个故事的原因并不在于此。
I'm telling you this story because it made me think about whether I would have the faith, the courage, to send my teens
我讲这个故事是因为它让我开始思考我是否有这种信念和勇气送我的孩子，
and I have three of them -- on a journey like that.
我有三个孩子，去踏上这样一段旅程。
Knowing that they wouldn't be safe where we were, would I be able to watch them go?
如果知道他们现在的处境并不安全，我会不会送他们离开。
I started my career decades ago at the southern US border, working with Central American asylum seekers.
十几年前我跟中美洲避难所合作，在美国南部边境开始了我的事业。
And in the last 16 years,
过去的16年间，
I've been at HIAS, the Jewish organization that fights for refugee rights around the world, as a lawyer and an advocate.
我一直在希伯来移民帮助社区工作，那是一个在全世界范围内为难民争取权利的犹太组织，我在那里担任辩护律师。
And one thing I've learned is that, sometimes, the things that we're told make us safer and stronger actually don't.
我学到的一件事情是，有时候我们听说的那些会让我们更安全或者更强的方法，并没有这些效果。
And, in fact, some of these policies have the opposite of the intended results
实际上，有些政策会导致与你想象的完全相反的结果，
and in the meantime, cause tremendous and unnecessary suffering.
同时会带来巨大的不必要的损失。
So why are people showing up at our southern border?
那么人们出现在南边的国境线是为什么呢？
Most of the immigrants and refugees that are coming to our southern border are fleeing three countries: Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
来这里大部分的移民和难民都是从三个国家逃出来的：危地马拉、洪都拉斯和萨尔瓦多。
These countries are consistently ranked among the most violent countries in the world.
这些国家在世界暴力冲突最多国家排名中持续排在前列。
It's very difficult to be safe in these countries, let alone build a future for yourself and your family.
生活在这些国家很不安全，更别说为自己和家人争取一个未来。
And violence against women and girls is pervasive.
对女性的暴力更是随处可见。
People have been fleeing Central America for generations.
数代以来，人们一直尝试从中美洲逃离。
Generations of refugees have been coming to our shores, fleeing the civil wars of the 1980s,
20世纪80年代，卷入内战的难民跑到我们国家边境，
in which the United States was deeply involved. This is nothing new.
而美国也深陷这场战争当中。这并不新鲜。
What's new is that recently, there's been a spike in families, children and families,
新鲜的是，近年来，终于有一些家庭和儿童，
showing up at checkpoints and presenting themselves to seek asylum.
出现在检查站的位置，教他们寻求庇护。
Now, this has been in the news lately, so I want you to remember a few things as you see those images.
这件事最近刚上过新闻，大家先看图，我想让大家记住几件事。
One, this is not a historically high level of interceptions at the southern border,
一，南部边界的拦截力度现在还没到历史最高点，
and, in fact, people are presenting themselves at checkpoints.
而且人们都是自己去的检查站。
Two, people are showing up with the clothes on their backs; some of them are literally in flip-flops.
二，来的人都把衣服背在背上，甚至有的人穿着人字拖就来了。
And three, we're the most powerful country in the world. It's not a time to panic.
三，我们是世界上最强大的国家。这不是我们应该恐慌的时候。
It's easy from the safety of the destination country to think in terms of absolutes:
站在安全的目的国，我们很容易会去想：
Is it legal, or is it illegal?
这样合法还是不合法？
But the people who are wrestling with these questions and making these decisions about their families
但是还在艰苦挣扎着的、为自己家人做这些决定的人
are thinking about very different questions: How do I keep my daughter safe? How do I protect my son?
思考的问题完全不同：我怎样才能保证我女儿的安全？怎样保护我的儿子？
And if you want absolutes, it's absolutely legal to seek asylum.
如果你想要一个确定的答案，寻求庇护是绝对合法的。
It is a fundamental right in our own laws and in international law.
这是写进我国法律和国际法的人的基本权利。
And, in fact -- it stems from the 1951 Refugee Convention, which was the world's response to the Holocaust
实际上--1952年的难民会议是世界对大屠杀做出的回应，
and a way for countries to say never again would we return people to countries where they would harmed or killed.
各个国家不应把难民送回那些可能会伤害或杀死他们的地方。
There are several ways refugees come to this country.
难民想进入我们国家有几种方法。
One is through the US Refugee Admissions Program.
一是通过美国难民接受计划。
Through that program, the US identifies and selects refugees abroad and brings them to the United States.
通过这个计划，美国会识别并挑选其他国家的难民，把他们带到美国。
Last year, the US resettled fewer refugees than at any time since the program began in 1980.
去年美国安置的难民数量比自1980年这个计划开始后的任何一年都少。
And this year, it'll probably be less.
今年，这个数字可能会更少。
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.
而现在世界上的难民数比史上任何一个时期都要多，甚至是自二战时期以来。
Another way that refugees come to this country is by seeking asylum.
另一个进入美国的办法就是寻求庇护。
Asylum seekers are people who present themselves at a border and say that they'll be persecuted if they're sent back home.
难民会站在边界，声称如果他们被送回去就会被处死。
An asylum seeker is simply somebody who's going through the process in the United States
寻求庇护的人需要走美国的流程，
to prove that they meet the refugee definition.
证明自己满足难民的定义。
And it's never been more difficult to seek asylum.
而现在寻求庇护也很艰难。
Border guards are telling people when they show up at our borders that our country's full,
边境的士兵会告诉来寻求庇护的人说我们国家人已经很多了，
that they simply can't apply. This is unprecedented and illegal.
无法再接受申请。此前从来没有发生过这样的事，并且这是不合法的。
Under a new program, with the kind of Orwellian title "Migrant Protection Protocols,"
新的难民计划，有一个奥威尔式的名字，叫做移民保护草案，
refugees are told they have to wait in Mexico
难民们被告知他们现在需要在墨西哥等结果，
while their cases make their way through the courts in the United States, and this can take months or years.
而他们的案卷要在美国的法庭上进行审理，而这个过程可能持续数月或数年。
Meanwhile, they're not safe, and they have no access to lawyers.
同时，他们也并不安全，也无法接触到律师。
Our country, our government, has detained over 3,000 children,
我们的国家，我们的政府拘留了3000个孩子，
separating them from their parents' arms, as a deterrent from seeking asylum.
把他们与父母分开，好威慑他们不要寻求庇护。
Many were toddlers, and at least one was a six-year-old blind girl. And this is still going on.
其中很多还是婴儿，还有一个6岁的失明女孩儿。这种事还在发生。
We spend billions to detain people in what are virtually prisons who have committed no crime.
我们花费数十亿把没有犯过罪的人关在虚拟的监狱里。
And family separation has become the hallmark of our immigration system.
亲人分离成为我们移民系统的特色。
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.
当我们谈论自己和我们的价值观时，建在山上的闪耀城市和希望的灯塔上听不见遥远的哭声。
Migration has always been with us, and it always will be.
移民问题一直伴随着我们它将来也会伴随着我们。
The reasons why people flee -- persecution, war, violence, climate change
人们逃离的原因--死刑、战争、暴力、气候变化
and the ability now to see on your phone what life is like in other places -- those pressures are only growing.
以及看着手机上出现的别的地方的人的幸福生活--这些压力只会与日俱增。
But there are ways that we can have policies that reflect our values and actually make sense, given the reality in the world.
但是就现实来看，我们还有办法可以说出我们的价值观，并让他们变得有意义。
The first thing we need to do is dial back the toxic rhetoric
我们要做的第一件事就是转变关于难民问题的言论，
that has been the basis of our national debate on this issue for too long.
是它们导致我们在大选辩论中争论不休。
I am not an immigrant or a refugee myself, but I take these attacks personally, because my grandparents were.
我自己不是移民也不是难民，但我把这些攻击当作对我的攻击，因为我的祖父母就是移民。
My great-grandmother Rose didn't see her kids for seven years, as she tried to bring them from Poland to New York.
为了让孩子们从波兰移民到纽约，我的曾祖母7年没见过他们。
She left my grandfather when he was seven and didn't see him again until he was 14.
我爷爷七岁时她就离开了他，直到爷爷14岁时他们才重逢。
On the other side of my family, my grandmother Aliza left Poland in the 1930s
我另一边的家人里，我的奶奶艾莉莎20世纪30年代离开了波兰，
and left for what was then the British Mandate of Palestine, and she never saw her family and friends again.
去到那时的英属巴勒斯坦，此后就再也没有见过自己的家人和朋友。
Global cooperation as a response to global migration and displacement would go a long way towards making migration something that isn't a crisis
为了解决移民问题，应该全球合作让移民问题不再是一个危机，
but something that just is, and that we deal with as a global community.
而是我们作为一个全球社区可以解决的问题。
Humanitarian aid is also critical.
人道主义援助也至关重要。
The amount of support we provide to countries in Central America that are sending refugees and migrants
我们提供给输送难民和移民的中美洲的帮助，
is a tiny fraction of the amount we spend on enforcement and detention.
相对于我们花在监禁与执法上的耗费实在没有可比性。
And we can absolutely have an asylum system that works.
我们绝对可以有一个有效的庇护系统。
For a tiny fraction of the cost of a wall,
只花了一堵墙的一小部分钱，
we could hire more judges, make sure asylum seekers have lawyers and commit to a humane asylum system.
我们可以雇佣更多的法官，确保寻求庇护者有律师，承诺建立人道的庇护制度。
And we could resettle more refugees.
我们可以安置更多的难民。
To give you a sense of the decline in the refugee program:
给你们感受一下难民计划安置人数下降的趋势：
three years ago, the US resettled 15,000 Syrian refugees in response to the largest refugee crisis on earth.
三年前，为了应对史上最大难民危机，美国安置了15000名叙利亚难民。
A year later, that number was 3,000. And last year, that number was 62 people. 62 people.
一年后，这个数字变成3000。去年它变成了62。62个人。
Despite the harsh rhetoric and efforts to block immigration, keep refugees out of the country,
尽管阻挡移民的恶言恶语盛行，很多人想把难民拦在国外，
support for refugees and immigrants in this country, according to polls, has never been higher.
民意调查显示我国支持难民和移民的声音从未如此大声。
Organizations like HIAS, where I work, and other humanitarian and faith-based organizations, make it easy for you to take a stand
我所在的希伯来移民帮助社区，还有其他人道主义组织，让你更容易表明立场，
when there's a law that's worth opposing or a law that's worth supporting or a policy that needs oversight.
当有的法律应该被推翻，有的法律应该被支持，有的政策应该被监督时。
If you have a phone, you can do something, and if you want to do more, you can.
只要有手机，你就可以贡献力量，如果你想做更多，也可以。
I will tell you that if you see one of these detention centers along the border with children in them
如果你在边界线见过关着孩子的拘留中心，
they're jails -- you will never be the same.
那就是监狱--我会告诉你你永远不会被关进去。
What I loved so much about my call with Ellie was that
在跟艾莉的通话中，我最高兴的是
she knew in her core that the stories of her grandparents were no different than today's stories,
她知道她爷爷奶奶的故事在本质上与今天发生的事并无区别，
and she wanted to do something about it.
而且她也想做点什么。
If I leave you with one thing, beyond the backstory for Mr. Potato Head, which is, of course, a good story to leave with,
除了土豆头先生的背景故事，我想送给你们一个好故事，
it's that a country shows strength through compassion and pragmatism, not through force and through fear.
一个国家应该通过同情和实际行动来展现自己的强大，而不是通过武力和恐吓。
These stories of the Hassenfelds and my relatives and your relatives are still happening today; they're all the same.
哈森菲尔德，我的亲人和你们的亲人的故事，今天还在发生，他们都一样。
A country is strong when it says to the refugee, not, "Go away,"
一个国家真正的强大，不是对难民说“走开”，
but, "It's OK, we've got you, you're safe." Thank you. Thanks.
而是“没事了，有我们保护你，你很安全。”谢谢大家。谢谢。
