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Twice a week, I drive from my home near Tijuana, Mexico, over the US border, to my office in San Diego.
每周有两天，我会从我在墨西哥蒂华纳附近的家中开车跨越美国边界，到我位于圣地亚哥的办公室。
The stark contrast between the poverty and desperation on one side of the border and the conspicuous wealth on the other always feels jarring.
边界的一边，是贫困和绝望，和另一边的明显富裕是很强烈的对比，这对比总让我觉得震撼。
But what makes this contrast feel even starker is
但有个因素更突显这种对比感觉，
when I pass by the building that those of us who work on the border unaffectionately refer to as the black hole.
那就是当我经过在边界工作的人的大楼时，那里有个冰冷的称号：黑洞。
The black hole is the Customs and Border Protection, or CBP facility,
黑洞是海关及边境保卫局，简称CBP，
at the San Ysidro port of entry, right next to a luxury outlet mall.
位于圣伊席卓入境口岸，就在奢侈的过季商品购物中心旁。
It's also where, at any one time, there's likely 800 immigrants locked in freezing, filthy, concrete cells below the building.
此外，不论何时，在那里都会有大约八百名移民被关在建物底下寒冷、肮脏的水泥牢房中。
Up top: shopping bags and frappuccinos. Downstairs: the reality of the US immigration system.
上面：购物袋和星冰乐。下面：美国移民体制的现实。
And it's where, one day in September of 2018, I found myself trying to reach Anna,
2018年九月的某一天，在那里，我试着去接触安娜，
a woman who CBP had recently separated from her seven-year-old son.
CBP最近才将这名女子和她的七岁儿子拆散。
I'm an immigration attorney and the policy and litigation director of Al Otro Lado,
我是移民律师，也是Al Otro Lado的政策及诉讼主任，
a binational nonprofit helping immigrants on both sides of the US-Mexico border.
这是一个双国非营利组织，旨在协助美墨边界两边的移民。
We'd met Anna several weeks earlier at our Tijuana office,
几周前，我们在才在蒂华纳的办公室见过安娜，
where she explained that she feared she and her son would be killed in Mexico.
在那里，她解释说她害怕她和她的儿子在墨西哥会被杀害。
So we prepared her for the process of turning herself over to CBP to ask for asylum.
所以我们帮她准备流程，让她能向CBP寻求庇护。
A few days after she'd gone to the port of entry to ask for help,
在她去入境口岸寻求协助的几天后，
we received a frantic phone call from her family members in the United States,
她在美国的家人打电话给我们，像是抓狂了似的，
telling us that CBP officials had taken Anna's son from her.
告诉我们CBP官员已经将她的儿子带离她身边。
Now, not that this should matter, but I knew that Anna's son had special needs.
并不是说这很重要，但我知道安娜的儿子有特别的需求。
And once again, this news filled me with the sense of panic and foreboding that has unfortunately become a hallmark of my daily work.
又一次，这消息让我充满了慌张和不祥的感觉，很不幸，这种感觉已成为我日常工作的特征。
I had a signed authorization to act as Anna's attorney,
我签署了授权书，以安娜的律师的身份行事，
so I rushed over to the port of entry to see if I could speak with my client.
所以我赶去入境口岸，去看看我能否和我的客户说话。
Not only would CBP officials not let me speak to Anna, but they wouldn't even tell me if she was there.
CBP的官员不仅不让我跟安娜说话，甚至不告诉我她是否在那里。
I went from supervisor to supervisor, begging to submit evidence of Anna's son's special needs,
我找了一个又一个主管，请求让我提交证据，说明安娜的儿子有特殊需求，
but no one would even talk to me about the case.
但甚至没有人愿意跟我谈这个案件。
It felt surreal to watch the shoppers strolling idly by what felt like a life-and-death situation.
看着购物者无所事事地从这个攸关生死的情境旁边闲逛过去，感觉好不真实。
After several hours of being stonewalled by CBP, I left.
在被CBP阻碍了好几个小时之后，我离开了。
Several days later, I found Anna's son in the foster-care system.
几天后，我在寄养照顾体系中找到安娜的儿子。
But I didn't know what happened to Anna until over a week later, when she turned up at a detention camp a few miles east.
但我不知道安娜的状况，直到超过一周后，她出现在东边几英里外的拘留营中。
Now, Anna didn't have a criminal record, and she followed the law when asking for asylum.
安娜没有任何犯罪记录，并且她在寻求庇护时有依循法律。
Still, immigration officials held her for three more months, until we could win her release and help her reunify with her son.
移民官员仍然又把她拘禁了三个月，直到我们能帮她争取到释放，并协助她和她的儿子重聚。
Anna's story is not the only story I could tell you.
我还可以告诉各位很多像安娜这样的故事。
There's Mateo, an 18-month-old boy, who was ripped from his father's arms
还有个十八个月大的男孩马提欧，他被从他父亲的怀抱中抓走，
and sent to a government shelter thousands of miles away, where they failed to properly bathe him for months.
送到几千英里外的政府庇护所，在那里，有好几个月他们都没有好好帮他洗澡。
There's Amadou, an unaccompanied African child, who was held with adults for 28 days in CBP's horrific facilities.
还有一个无人陪伴的非洲小孩阿马杜，和成人一起关在CBP的可怕机构中足足二十八天。
Most disturbingly, there's Maria, a pregnant refugee who begged for medical attention for eight hours before she miscarried in CBP custody.
最让人不舒服的是玛莉亚，她是怀孕的难民，恳求医疗照护恳求了八个小时，然后她在CBP的监管之下流产了。
CBP officials held her for three more weeks before they sent her back to Mexico,
CBP官员还把她再关了三个星期，才把她送回墨西哥，
where she is being forced to wait months for an asylum hearing in the United States.
在那里，她被迫等了数个月，才等到在美国的庇护听证会。
Seeing these horrors day in and day out has changed me.
日复一日见到这些恐怖的状况，让我改变了。
I used to be fun at parties, but now,
以前，在派对上我总是很有趣，但是现在，
I inevitably find myself telling people about how our government tortures refugees at the border and in the detention camps.
我总会不由自主要告诉别人我们的政府在边界及拘留营中如何虐待难民。
Now, people try to change the subject and congratulate me for the great work I'm doing in helping people like Anna.
对方会试着改变话题，恭喜我做得很好，帮助了像安娜这样的人。
But I don't know how to make them understand that unless they start fighting, harder than they ever thought possible,
但我不知道要如何让他们了解除非他们开始对抗，并且付出超乎他们想象的努力，
we don't know which of us will be the next to suffer Anna's fate.
不然我们不会知道，我们之中谁会成为下一个安娜。
Trump's mass separations of refugee families at the southern border shocked the conscience of the world
特朗普在南方边界大量将难民家庭拆散的政策震惊了世界的良知，
and woke many to the cruelties of the US immigration system.
让许多人惊觉到美国移民体制的残酷。
It seems like today, more people than ever are involved in the fight for immigrant rights.
似乎，现今，为了移民权利而战的人比以往都还要多。
But unfortunately, the situation is just not getting better.
但不幸的是，情况并没有好转。
Thousands protested to end family separations, but the government is still separating families.
数千人站出来抗议，要求终止将家庭拆散，但政府仍然在拆散家庭。
More than 900 children have been taken from their parents since June of 2018.
从2018年6月至今，就有超过九百名孩子被带离他们的父母。
Thousands more refugee children have been taken from their grandparents, siblings and other family members at the border.
还有数千名难民孩子在边界被带离他们的祖父母、手足，以及其他家庭成员。
Since 2017, at least two dozen people have died in immigration custody.
从2017年起，至少有二十多个人在移民监管之下死亡。
And more will die, including children.
还有更多人会死亡，包括儿童。
Now, we lawyers can and will keep filing lawsuits to stop the government from brutalizing our clients,
我们律师可以，而且会持续提出告诉，来阻止政府残酷对待我们的客户，
but we can't keep tinkering around the edges of the law if we want migrants to be treated humanely.
但如果我们希望移民受到人道对待，我们就不能只是在外围做些小修小补。
This administration would have you believe that we have to separate families and we have to detain children,
政府会要你相信，我们必须要将家庭拆散，我们必须要拘留孩子，
because it will stop more refugees from coming to our borders. But we know that this isn't true.
因为这样才能阻止更多难民来到我们的边界。但我们知道这不是真的。
In fact, in 2019, the number of apprehensions at our southern border has actually gone up.
事实上，2019年，我们在南方边界逮捕的人数其实在上升。
And we tell people every day at the border,
每天，我们都在边界告诉大家：
"If you seek asylum in the United States, you risk family separation, and you risk being detained indefinitely."
“若你想向美国寻求庇护，就要冒着家庭被拆散、无限期被拘留的风险。”
But for many of them, the alternative is even worse.
但对他们许多人来说，另一个选择更糟糕。
People seek refuge in the United States for a lot of different reasons.
人们向美国寻求庇护的理由很多。
In Tijuana, we've met refugees from over 50 countries, speaking 14 different languages.
在蒂华纳，我们见过来自超过五十个国家的难民，说十四种不同的语言。
We meet LGBT migrants from all over the world who have never been in a country in which they feel safe.
我们见过来自世界各地的LGBT（同/双性恋与跨性别）移民，未曾到过让他们感到安全的国家。
We meet women from all over the world
我们见过来自世界各地的女性，
whose own governments refuse to protect them from brutal domestic violence or repressive social norms.
她们自己的政府拒绝保护她们，让她们遭受残忍的家庭暴力或压迫式的社会规范。
Of course, we meet Central American families who are fleeing gang violence.
当然，我们也见过中美洲的家庭，他们要逃离帮派暴力。
But we also meet Russian dissidents, Venezuelan activists, Christians from China, Muslims from China,
但我们也见过俄罗斯的异议人士、委内瑞拉活动家、来自中国的基督徒、穆斯林，
and thousands and thousands of other refugees fleeing all types of persecution and torture.
还有数以千计的其他难民，想要逃离各种迫害和虐待。
Now, a lot of these people would qualify as refugees under the international legal definition.
根据国际法的定义，这些人当中，很多都符合难民的资格。
The Refugee Convention was created after World War II to give protection to people fleeing persecution
难民地位公约是在二次大战后订立的，旨在保护逃离迫害的人，
based on their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group.
因为种族、宗教、国籍、政治意见，或因是特定社会族群的一员而遭受迫害的人。
But even those who would be refugees under the international definition are not going to win asylum in the United States.
但即使是符合国际定义的难民，也无法取得在美国的庇护权。
And that's because since 2017, the US Attorneys General have made sweeping changes to asylum law,
那是因为从2017年起，美国总检察长针对庇护法做了大刀阔斧的改变，
to make sure that less people qualify for protection in the United States.
以确保符合美国保护资格的人数变少。
Now these laws are mostly aimed at Central Americans and keeping them out of the country,
这些法律的主要对象是中美洲人，想阻止他们进入美国，
but they affect other types of refugees as well.
但也会影响到其他类的难民。
The result is that the US frequently deports refugees to their persecution and death.
结果是，美国经常遣返难民，让他们面临迫害及死亡。
The US is also using detention to try to deter refugees and make it harder for them to win their cases.
美国也用拘留手段来威慑难民，并且让他们更难胜诉。
Today, there are over 55,000 immigrants detained in the United States,
现今，有超过五万五千名移民被拘留在美国，
many in remote detention facilities, far from any type of legal help. And this is very important.
许多是拘留在偏远的拘留机构中，远离任何法律协助。这点非常重要。
Because it's civil and not criminal detention, there is no public defender system,
因为这是民事而非刑事拘留，没有公设辩护人的体制，
so most detained immigrants are not going to have an attorney to help them with their cases.
所以，多数被拘留的移民不会有律师协助处理案件。
An immigrant who has an attorney is up to 10 times more likely to win their case than one who doesn't.
有律师的移民胜诉的机会比没有律师的移民高出十倍。
And as you've seen, I hate to be the bearer of bad news,
各位已经知道，我很讨厌当传递坏消息的人，
but the situation is even worse for refugee families today than it was during family separation.
但现今难民家庭隔离期间所面临的情况比以往更加糟糕。
Since January of 2019, the US has implemented a policy
自2019年1月起，美国实施了一项政策，
that's forced over 40,000 refugees to wait in Mexico for asylum hearings in the United States.
迫使超过四万名难民在墨西哥等待美国的庇护听证会。
These refugees, many of whom are families, are trapped in some of the most dangerous cities in the world,
这些难民中有很多都是一家人，他们被困在世界上最危险的一些城市中，
where they're being raped, kidnapped and extorted by criminal groups.
在那里，他们被犯罪集团强暴、绑架、勒索。
And if they survive for long enough to make it to their asylum hearing,
如果他们能撑到庇护听证会，
less than one percent of them are able to find an attorney to help them with their cases.
只有不到1%的人能找到律师来协助处理他们的案件。
The US government will point to the lowest asylum approval rates to argue that these people are not really refugees,
美国政府会用最低的庇护核准率，主张这些人不是真的难民，
when in fact, US asylum law is an obstacle course designed to make them fail.
但事实上，美国的庇护法本身就是一种障碍赛，设计来让难民申请失败的。
Now not every migrant at the border is a refugee. I meet plenty of economic migrants.
在边界的移民并非都是难民。我遇过许多经济移民。
For example, people who want to go to the United States to work,
比如，有些人是想到美国工作，
to pay medical bills for a parent or school fees for a child back home.
以支付父母亲的医疗费用，或孩子在家乡的学费。
Increasingly, I'm also meeting climate refugees.
我渐渐也遇到一些气候难民。
In particular, I'm meeting a lot of indigenous Central Americans
特别是一些中美洲的原住民，
who can no longer sustain themselves by farming, due to catastrophic drought in the region.
他们所处的地区发生灾难性的干旱，让他们无法再靠农业来维生。
We know that today, people are migrating because of climate change, and that more will do so in the future,
我们知道，现今，有些人会因为气候变迁而移居，在未来还会越来越多这样的人，
but we simply don't have a legal system to deal with this type of migration.
但我们却没有法律制度可以处理这种移民。
So, it would make sense, as a start, to expand the refugee definition to include climate refugees, for example.
所以，合理的做法是，可以从扩展难民的定义开始着手，比如将气候难民也纳入。
But those of us in a position to advocate for those changes are too busy suing our government
但是我们这些主张改变的人忙于起诉我们的政府，
to keep the meager legal protections that refugees enjoy under the current law.
以保持难民在现行法律下所享有的微薄的法律保护。
And we are exhausted, and it's almost too late to help.
我们累坏了，现在伸出援手也几乎是太迟了。
And we know now that this isn't America's problem alone.
我们现在知道这不只是美国的问题。
From Australia's brutal offshore detention camps to Italy's criminalization of aid to migrants drowning in the Mediterranean,
从澳洲残酷的近海拘留营，到在意大利将援助地中海快要淹死的移民定为刑事犯罪，
first-world countries have gone to deadly lengths to keep refugees from reaching our shores.
第一世界国家不遗余力防范难民登陆。
But they've done more than restrict the refugee definition.
但它们所做的不只是限制难民的定义。
They've created parallel, fascist-style legal systems in which migrants have none of the rights that form the basis of a democracy,
它们创造出了平行的法西斯风格法律制度，在这样的制度下，移民完全没有形成民主基础的那些权利，
the alleged foundation of the countries in which they're seeking refuge.
据称这些权利还是他们寻求庇护的国家的基础。
History shows us that the first group to be vilified and stripped of their rights is rarely the last,
历史告诉我们，第一个被诋毁并被剥夺权利的族群，通常都不是最后一个，
and many Americans and Europeans seem to accept an opaque and unjust legal system for noncitizens, because they think they are immune.
并且许多美国人和欧洲人似乎能接受非公民受到不透明、不公正的法律制度对待，因为他们认为不会发生在自己身上。
But eventually, these authoritarian ideals bleed over and affect citizens as well.
但最终这些专制理念也会影响到公民。
I learned this firsthand when the US government placed me on an illegal watch list for my work helping immigrants at the border.
我亲身了解到了这件事，当时美国政府把我列入非法观察名单中，因为我在边界做协助移民的工作。
One day, in January of 2019, I was leaving my office in San Diego and crossing the border to go back to my home in Mexico.
2019年1月的某一天，我离开圣地亚哥的办公室，跨越边界要回到我在墨西哥的家。
Mexican officials, although they had given me a valid visa, stopped me and told me that I couldn't enter the country
虽然墨西哥官员先前给了我有效的签证，但他们还是把我挡了下来，说我不能入关，
because a foreign government had placed a travel alert on my passport, designating me as a national security risk.
因为有一个外国政府针对我的护照发了旅行警示，指称我会造成国家安全的风险。
I was detained and interrogated in a filthy room for hours.
我被拘留在一间肮脏的房间并接受讯问数个小时。
I begged the Mexican officials to let me go back to Mexico and pick up my son, who was only 10 months old at the time.
我求墨西哥官员让我回去墨西哥接我的儿子，那时他才十个月大。
But they refused, and instead, they turned me over to CBP officials, where I was forced back into the United States.
但他们拒绝了，反之，他们将我移交给CBP官员，他们强迫我回到美国。
It took me weeks to get another visa so that I could go back to Mexico, and I went to the border, visa in hand.
我花了数周的时间才取得另一张签证让我回墨西哥，我到了边界，手上拿着签证。
But again, I was detained and interrogated because there was still a travel alert on my passport.
但我再次被拘留和讯问，因为我的护照仍然在旅行警示名单上。
Shortly after, leaked internal CBP documents confirmed that my own government had been complicit in issuing this travel alert against me.
没多久之后，泄露出来的CBP内部文件证实了我自己的政府共谋针对我发出旅行警示。
And since then, I haven't traveled to any other countries,
那之后，我就没有再旅行到任何其他国家，
because I'm afraid I'll be detained and deported from those countries as well.
因为我担心我会被拘留，并且被驱逐出那些国家。
These travel restrictions, detentions and separation from my infant son are things I never thought I would experience as a US citizen,
这些旅行限制、拘留，以及把我跟襁褓中的儿子分离情况，是我从来没有预期到身为美国公民会遇到的，
but I'm far from the only person being criminalized for helping immigrants.
但除了我之外还有很多人，也都因为协助移民而被当成罪犯。
The US and other countries have made it a crime to save lives,
美国和其他国家让拯救人命变成了犯罪行为，
and those of us who are simply trying to do our jobs are being forced to choose between our humanity and our freedom.
而我们这些只是想做好工作的人则被迫要在自身的人性和自由间抉择。
And the thing that makes me so desperate is that all of you are facing the same choice, but you don't understand it yet.
让我感到非常绝望的是，各位都面临同样的抉择，只是你们还不知道。
And I know there are good people out there. I saw thousands of you in the streets, protesting family separation.
我知道外头有些好人存在。我看到数千人走上街头抗议将家庭拆散。
And that largely helped bring about an end to the official policy.
这些动作对于终止这官方政策有很大的帮助。
But we know that the government is still separating children. And things are actually getting worse.
但我们知道政府仍在将儿童分离。情况还变得更糟糕。
Today, the US government is fighting for the right to detain refugee children indefinitely in prison camps.
现今，美国政府在争取将难民儿童无限期拘留在拘留营中的权利。
This isn't over. We cannot allow ourselves to become numb or look away.
这还没结束。我们不能让我们自己麻木或当作没看见。
Those of us who are citizens of countries whose policies cause detention, separation and death,
是我们国家的政策在造成拘留、分离以及死亡，
need to very quickly decide which side we're on.
我们公民必须很快决定站在哪一边。
We need to demand that our laws respect the inherent dignity of all human beings,
我们得要要求我们的法律尊重所有人类与生俱来的尊严，
especially refugees seeking help at our borders, but including economic migrants and climate refugees.
特别是在我们的边界寻求协助的难民，但也包括经济移民及气候难民。
We need to demand that refugees get a fair shot at seeking protection in our countries
我们得要让那些难民有平等的机会在我们的国家内寻求保护，
by ensuring that they have access to council and by creating independent courts that are not subject to the political whims of the president.
做法是要确保他们能商议协调，并建立独立的法庭，这些法庭不能受到总统一时政治念头的影响。
I know it's overwhelming, and I know this sounds cliché,
我知道要做的非常多，我知道这些起来很老套，
but we need to call our elected representatives and demand these changes.
但我们得要打电话给我们选出的代表，要求做出这些改变。
I know you've heard this before, but have you made the call? We know these calls make a difference.
我知道各位以前就听过这些，但你们打电话了吗？我们知道这些电话能造成不同。
The dystopian immigration systems being built up in first-world countries are a test of citizens
第一世界国家所建立的这些反乌托邦移民体制是对公民的考验，
to see how far you're willing to let the government go in taking away other people's rights when you think it won't happen to you.
要测试的是当你们认为这些事不会发生在自己身上时，愿意让政府夺取他人的权利到什么程度。
But when you let the government take people's children without due process
但当你们允许政府不经过适当的流程就带走别人的孩子，
and detain people indefinitely without access to council, you are failing the test.
并无期限拘留别人，不让他们取得咨询，你们就是没有通过考验。
What's happening to immigrants now is a preview of where we're all headed if we fail to act. Thank you.
现在是移民遇到这些事，我们如果不采取行动，将来就换我们了。谢谢。
