美国政治热点：移民改革：我们可以做得更好

chrisxsy

　　在过去的几周里，关于美国移民问题的大讨论发生了很多事。一家联邦法院取消了SB1070号法案，即亚利桑那州的那条“严厉打击移民，因为奥巴马政府才不会这么做”的法律。一些知名的共和党人已经开始发起运动反对美国宪法第14修正案。除了别的意外，第14修正案赋予了所有在美国出生的个人以美国公民权。 在8月的第二周，国会两院通过了一项紧急开支法案，根据该法案，美国将在边境投入6亿美元，用于支付1500名边境执法人员的报酬、支持负荷过重的法院组织以及提供进行边境监控的无人飞机。
　　许多美国人，包括我，都希望华盛顿方面能够对那些穿过我们西南边境来到美国的非法移民采取一些措施--不是因为这些移民给我们的国家带来了什么危害（他们确实没有；事实上这些非法移民反而还给美国带来了好处），而是因为每年有成百上千的人在试图穿越国境线时丧命。自从美国和墨西哥诞生之日起这片土地就被国境线一分为二了，但人们不停地穿越这片土地，从未停息。墨西哥太穷了，而国境线北边那片国土中的生财良机又是那么地诱人。
　　那些会鼓励更多危险的（甚至致命的）越境行为的法律不是我们所需要的，我们需要的是能保障人们安全、促进美墨双方经济繁荣以及保证在美工作的人能够自由出入境的措施。
　　为此，我总结出了有道德责任感的移民改革法案所必需具备的五个要素。我为此做了许多研究、走访美墨边境和各行各业的人交谈，并将这些经历写进了我即将出版的新书《邻居：基督教与“非法”移民的偶遇》中。
　　1. 美国政府应向从事季节性工作的人提供签证，特别是那些从事农业工作的人。由于难以获得签证，许多墨西哥移民来美后就只能永久居住在美国，向他们提供签证则可以减少这种情况的发生，这些墨西哥移民将得以在工作季结束后回到墨西哥，也不用被迫居家北迁。在撰写新书时我发现，几乎所有对移民问题有所关注和思考的人，无论是自由派还是保守派、墨西哥人还是美国人，都对这一设想表示赞同。
　　2. 家庭应被视为一个整体。现行的法律或将混合身份夫妻分割开来，或将无合法身份的父母从儿女身边带走并驱逐出境。应当对这些法律做出修改。如果父母被驱逐出境，让孩子失去父亲或母亲，这对任何人都没有好处。
　　3. 被父母携带入境的子女（即使已经成年）不同于那些单独入境的成ren，应当被区别对待。在现行法律下，被父母携带进入美国国境的子女和自主入境的成ren并无任何区别。如果子女没有合法证明，他们就始终面临被驱逐出境的危险，而且在许多州他们都无权申请驾驶执照，这就极大地影响了他们的就业前景。即使他们是合法居民，即使是轻微的违法行为也可能使他们面临被驱逐出境危险。
　　4. 该让边境线上的那些隔离网在沙漠中慢慢锈蚀，或者最好是拆了当废品卖掉。如果说这些隔离网有什么用的话，那就是我可以站在这道从太平洋一直延伸到格兰德河的隔离网边，用我最大的诚意说“奥巴马先生，拆掉这堵墙吧！”我们并不需要隔离网--美国的南部边境是多山的沙漠地带，这种地理环境本身就是良好的安全保障，而隔离带就显得多余了。并且，这些隔离网耗资10亿美元，这不仅是在浪费钱，也是在浪费人的生命。这隔离网并没能起到把非法移民隔绝在美国国境之外的作用，相反，它反而促使人们在越来越多的危险地带穿越国境。此外，建造和维护这些隔离网和隔离墙的成本高昂，但用来翻越它们的梯子却便宜得很，铲子和钢锯也花费不多。唯一从这些隔离墙中得到好处的就是那些只会用简单思维来处理复杂问题的政客。
　　5. 我坚信应当控制货品和服务产品的跨境流通。应当征收关税、禁止走私。但是控制人口跨境流动的最好办法还是促进墨西哥的经济增长，同时对雇佣非法移民的行业（而非直接针对移民）采取相应措施，
　　我的观点对于美国的开明大众来说并不陌生，而且也不是我所独创。当我为撰写新书而奔走于美国和墨西哥各地时听到了许多关于移民改革的类似意见。这并不是说所有美国人或墨西哥人都和我持有相同或类似的观点，但是当人们实事求是、深思熟虑地讨论移民问题时，当人们摈弃对移民的恐惧、偏见和厌恶时，大家总能达成某种共识，而且这种共识与我所提到的五点要素惊人地相似。
　　是时候让我们的领导人开启全面的移民改革了，这一移民改革应当以刺激经济、保护家庭和儿童、保护生命为基础，并且应当富有理性和可行性。我相信美国是一个优秀、强大和充满创造力的国家，这个国家有能力制定出造福全民的移民政策。
　　作者是美国长老会会长、《邻居：基督教与“非法”移民的偶遇》一书的作者。

英文原文：
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ben-daniel/immigration-reform-we-can_b_680949.html
Immigration Reform: We Can Do Better
By Ben Danial, Presbyterian minister; author, 'Neighbor: Christian Encounters with "Illegal" Immigration'
In the last few weeks, a lot has been happening in the great American conversation around immigration. A federal court struck down SB 1070, Arizona's "get-tough-on-immigration-because-the-Obama-administration-won't-do-diddily" law. Several prominent Republicans have started campaigning against the 14th amendment to the United States' constitution, which, among other things, grants citizenship to any person born in the Unites States. Then, in the second week of August, both the House and Senate passed an emergency spending bill that will send 600 million dollars to the US border. The money will pay for 1500 border enforcement personnel, it will support the overburdened court system, and it will provide for the monitoring of the border by unmanned aircraft.

Count mine among the Americans who wish to see Washington do something about undocumented migration across our southwest border -- not because undocumented persons are harming our nation (they're not; in fact the United States benefits from illegal immigration), but because each year hundreds of good people die trying to cross our borders. People have been migrating across the landscape now bisected with an international border since long before either the United States or Mexico existed, and they're not going to stop now. The poverty in Mexico is too extreme, and the economic opportunities north of the border are too alluring.
Rather than laws that will encourage increasingly dangerous (and fatal) border crossings, we need measures that will keep people safe, will promote economic vitality on both sides of the border, and will enable those who work in America to move freely back and forth across the border.
To that end, I have identified five elements that I feel must be included in any morally responsible immigration reform bill. I came up with these elements after spending a lot of time studying the issues, visiting the US/Mexico border, and interviewing dozens of people from many different walks of life for my soon-to-be-released book, Neighbor: Christian Encounters with "Illegal" Immigration.
1.             The United States Government must provide visas for seasonal work, particularly for people working in the agriculture sector. Issuing visas for seasonal work would likely have the effect of decreasing the number of immigrants from Mexico living permanently in the United States because with visas, workers could return to Mexico at the end of each season and not feel compelled to move their families north. While writing my book, I found I shared this conviction with liberals and conservatives, Mexicans and Americans, nearly everyone I met who is knowledgeable and wise about immigration matters.
2.             Families should be kept together. Current laws that separate mixed-status spouses or that deport parents, separating them from their children, should be changed. When parents are deported, leaving citizen children without a mother or a father, no one benefits.
3.             Children brought across the border by their parents should be treated differently from adults who immigrated alone, even after those children are adults. Under current immigration law, adults who came to the United States as children are treated exactly as if they themselves had made the decision to immigrate. If they lack documentation, they live under the constant threat of deportation, and in many states they are denied drivers' licenses, seriously hampering their chances of finding meaningful work. Even if they are legal residents, they face the possibility of deportation even for relatively minor offenses.
4.             The border fence should be left to rust in the desert, or, better yet, uprooted and sold for scrap. If it would do any good, I'd stand by the fence that now runs along the border from the Pacific Ocean to the Rio Grande, and I'd declare with every possible ounce of conviction "Mr. Obama, tear down this wall!" The fence is not necessary -- our nation's southern border already runs through a mountainous desert which provides excellent border protection and national security, and makes the fence redundant. Also, at a cost of more than a billion dollars, the border fence is a ridiculous waste of money and, often, a tragic waste of human life. The wall doesn't keep people out of the United States; it just encourages people to cross the border in increasingly dangerous places. Besides, as expensive as walls and fences are to build and maintain, ladders are cheap. So are shovels and hacksaws. The only people who benefit from the wall are politicians whose constituents like easy answers to complex issues.
5.             I firmly believe that the movement of goods and services across the border should be controlled. Duty fees must be collected and contraband must be stopped, but the best way to control the flow of people is with economic development south of the border and with enforcement north of the border that targets not the migrants themselves but businesses that hire undocumented persons.
My opinions are not unique to the progressive community in the United States, nor are they original to me. I heard variations on these themes everywhere I went in the United States and Mexico researching my book. This is not to say that everyone in the United States and Mexico agrees with me -- not even close -- but when discussions around immigration are educated, thoughtful, and are separated from fear, prejudice and xenophobia, consensus starts to appear and that consensus looks an awful lot like the five points I've made above.
It's time for our leaders to pass comprehensive immigration reform and to do so in a way that fuels the economy, protects families and children, saves lives, and is rational and enforceable. I believe America is good enough, strong enough, and creative enough to make an immigration policy that works for all of us.
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