五、背离人道主义制造移民危机
V. Creating a Migrant Crisis Against Humanity文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/13050.html
文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/13050.html
美国政府经常挥舞“人权大棒”干涉别国内政，但“骨肉分离”移民政策却严重危及移民的生命、尊严和自由等多项人权。移民难民危机已沦为美国党派攻讦与政治斗争的政治工具，政府朝令夕改、暴力执法，移民群体遭受超期羁押、酷刑和强迫劳动等不人道待遇。文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/13050.html
文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/13050.html
The U.S. government has often interfered in other countries’ internal affairs by wielding the club of “human rights.” However, the policy of separating migrant children from their families has severely endangered the migrants’ lives, dignity, freedom and other human rights. The migrant and refugee crisis has even been used as an instrument for American partisan attacks and political strife. Constant government policy changes and police brutality adds to the sufferings of the migrants who have already been subject to extended custody, cruel torture, forced labor and many other inhumane treatments.文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/13050.html
文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/13050.html
寻求庇护者遭受暴力执法。2021年，美国南部边境移民潮日益汹涌，边境执法人员以不断升级的暴力手段驱赶寻求庇护者或阻止其入境，导致人道主义危机持续加剧。美国边境执法部门公布的数据显示，2021财年，美国南部边境有高达557名移民死亡，比上一财年增长一倍多，创下1998年有记录以来的历史最高值。媒体报道称，“真实的移民死亡数字可能更大”。⑦《今日美国报》网站2021年11月29日报道，2021年1月至11月，公开报道的针对寻求庇护者的谋杀、强奸、酷刑、绑架和其他暴力袭击案件已超过7647起。文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/13050.html
文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/13050.html
Asylum seekers are subject to police brutality. In 2021, the humanitarian crisis continued to intensify as the southern border of the United States saw an increasing inflow of migrants, and border enforcement officers used increasingly violent means to expel or prevent asylum seekers from entering the country.文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/13050.html
文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/13050.html
Data released by U.S. Border Patrol shows that in fiscal year 2021, as many as 557 migrants died on the southern border of the United States, more than double the previous fiscal year, hitting the highest number since records began in 1998. Media reports say this does not reflect the dire situation on the U.S. southern border and “the real number of migrant deaths may be greater.”
The USA TODAY website reported on Nov. 29, 2021 that from January to November 2021, there have been more than 7,647 publicly reported cases of murder, rape, torture, kidnapping and other violent assaults against asylum seekers.
2021年9月，超过1.5万名来自海地的寻求庇护者聚集在得克萨斯州边境小镇德尔里奥的一座桥下，在酷热的天气下睡在肮脏的帐篷里或泥地上，周围满是垃圾，生活环境十分恶劣。美国边境执法部门残酷对待这些寻求庇护者，巡逻队骑在马背上，挥舞着马鞭冲向人群，将他们驱逐到河水里。这些现场画面被曝光后立即引发众怒。美国有线电视新闻网评论称，这一场景让人联想到美国历史上用奴隶巡逻队控制黑人奴隶的黑暗时代。《纽约时报》评论称，“骑在马背上的执法人员像赶牛一样驱赶移民的画面令人发指”，与美国政府所说的漂亮话相比，“他们的行为总是存在反差”。面对舆论潮水般的批评，美国政府很快将成千上万的寻求庇护者强制遣送回到海地，而他们中的大多数自2010年海地大地震离开后，已经10多年没有在那里生活过。2021年10月25日，联合国人权理事会种族歧视问题特别报告员、非洲人后裔问题工作组发表联合声明，谴责美国未评估个人状况就系统性、大规模驱逐海地难民移民的行为违反国际法，“大规模驱逐延续了美国边境口岸对海地难民移民进行种族排斥的历史”。不满于美国政府处理海地难民移民的非人道方式，刚刚上任两个月的美国海地事务特使丹尼尔·福特愤而辞职。
In September 2021, more than 15,000 asylum seekers from Haiti crowded under a bridge in the Texas border town of Del Rio, sleeping in squalid tents or dirt in the sweltering heat, and surrounded by trash under dire living conditions. U.S. border patrol authorities brutalized the asylum seekers, with patrols on horseback, brandishing horsewhips and charging towards the crowds to expel them into the river. The footage of the scene immediately sparked outrage when they were released.
CNN commented that this scene is reminiscent of the dark era in American history when slave patrols were used to control black slaves. The New York Times commented that “there were the outrageous images of agents on horseback herding the migrants like cattle” and the U.S. government in general always seems to say the right things on racial issues, but too often their deeds come up short when measured against their talk.
Facing a flood of criticism, the U.S. government soon forcibly deported thousands of asylum seekers back to Haiti, most of whom had not lived there for nearly a decade since the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.
On Oct. 25, 2021, the UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism and the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent issued a statement, condemning the systematic and mass deportation of Haitian refugees and migrants by the United States without assessing the individuals’ situation was a violation of international law, “the mass deportations seemingly continue a history of racialized exclusion of Black Haitian migrants and refugees at U.S. ports of entry.”
Dissatisfied with the U.S. government’s inhumane handling of Haitian migrants and refugees, Daniel Footie, the U.S. special envoy for Haiti, resigned in anger after just two months in office.
移民儿童面临超期羁押与虐待。《今日美国报》网站2021年11月29日报道称，美国政府在疫情期间援引“公共健康法”相关规定，对所有试图跨越边境的难民移民进行集体驱逐，创造了“骨肉分离政策”的2.0版，⑧迫使许多未成年子女与父母分离。美国有线电视新闻网2021年4月23日报道，美国海关和边境保护局还羁押着超过5000名无人陪伴的移民儿童，很多儿童的羁押时间都超出法定时限。英国《卫报》网站2021年10月11日报道，有160多起美国南部边境执法人员2016年至2021年间对包括儿童在内的寻求庇护者进行性虐待和身体虐待的案例被曝光，涉及美国海关和边境保护局、边境巡逻队等主要执法机构。
Immigrant children face prolonged detention and abuse. “And while Biden has officially ended Trump’s policy of ‘family separation,’ his use of Title 42 has created family separation 2.0,” USA TODAY website reported on Nov. 29, 2021. It forced many minors to separate from their parents.
“There are more than 5,000 unaccompanied children in U.S. Customs and Border Protection custody,” CNN reported on April 23, 2021. Many of them have been staying in custody for longer than the 72-hour limit set by federal law, it added.
“A stash of redacted documents released to the human rights group (Human Rights Watch) after six years of legal tussles uncover more than 160 cases of misconduct and abuse by leading government agencies, notably Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Border Patrol,” The Guardian reported on Oct. 11, 2021. “The papers record events between 2016 and 2021 that range from child sexual assault to enforced hunger, threats of rape and brutal detention conditions.”
羁押移民的私营拘留设施条件恶劣。美国羁押移民的拘留设施大多由私营公司建设运营。而私营公司以利润最大化为目的，想方设法压低经营成本，一般都按照与政府签订合同的最低标准建设，造成拘留设施条件简陋，内部环境十分恶劣。监管缺位导致拘留设施内部管理混乱，侵犯人权的现象屡屡发生，被羁押人员身心健康受到不同程度伤害。2021财年美国关押的170多万移民中，高达80%被关押在私营拘留设施中，包括4.5万名儿童。《埃尔帕索时报》2021年6月25日报道，私营承包商问题加剧了美国布里斯堡收容点的可怕混乱，那里有将近5000名儿童，大约有1500名儿童被关押在“牲畜围场”般拥挤、糟糕的环境中，给他们带来严重的身心创伤。
Conditions in private detention facilities where migrants are held are poor. Most of the detention facilities in the United States are built and operated by private companies. In order to reduce operating costs and maximize profits, private companies generally build in accordance with the minimum standards contracted with the government, resulting in poor detention facilities and a harsh internal environment. A lack of supervision has led to chaotic management of the detention facilities and repeated violations of human rights, while detainees suffered varying degrees of physical and mental health damage.
U.S. authorities detained more than 1.7 million migrants along the Mexico border during the 2021 fiscal year that ended in September.
Among them, up to 80 percent are held in private detention facilities, including 45,000 children.
“Conditions were deteriorating inside the ‘emergency intake’ shelter erected in the harsh desert of Fort Bliss (Texas),” reported the El Paso Times on June 25, 2021.
“There were nearly 5,000 children there, and some 1,500 children are still being held at the troubled site, where conditions in ‘jam-packed’ tents resembled ‘a stockyard,’ were ‘traumatizing’ and risky for the children’s health and safety, according to half a dozen current and former workers, volunteers and civil servants, as well as internal emails obtained by the El Paso Times.
不少移民成为美国人口贩运和强迫劳动的受害者。美国移民政策收紧，加之国内监管不力，加剧了针对移民的人口贩运和强迫劳动现象。美联社2021年12月10日报道，多年来，偷渡至美国的移民被迫长期在农场干苦力，生活在肮脏、拥挤的拖车里，缺少食物，也没有干净的饮用水，同时还遭受监管者的暴力威胁。这些劳工的身份和旅行证件被扣留，无法寻求帮助逃离困境。美国司法部网站2021年11月22日报道，一份人口贩运案件起诉书记录了几十名来自墨西哥和中美洲的工人被贩运至美国南佐治亚州农场，在恶劣条件下被非法监禁和强迫劳动，成为美国“现代奴隶制”的受害者。他们被以每小时12美元的劳动报酬承诺骗入农场后，却在持枪者监控之下，被迫徒手挖洋葱，每挖满一桶洋葱只能得到20美分的报酬，其中至少两人死亡，一人被多次性侵。《纽约时报》网站2021年11月11日报道，数百名印度劳工被诱骗到新泽西、亚特兰大、芝加哥、休斯敦和洛杉矶等地，被迫从事艰苦且经常面临危险的建筑工作，几乎没有时间休息。他们的护照被没收，被禁止与外人交谈，人身受到限制和暴力威胁。
Many immigrants are victims of human trafficking and forced labor in the United States. Tighter U.S. immigration policies, combined with weak supervision at home, have exacerbated human smuggling and labor trafficking targeting immigrants.
A report by AP on Dec. 10, 2021 said that for years, immigrants who smuggled into the U.S. have been forced to work long hours on farms, living in filthy, overcrowded trailers, lacking food and clean drinking water, and facing threats of violence from regulators. The workers’ IDs and travel documents were withheld, which limits their ability to seek help to escape their predicament.
A human trafficking indictment released on Nov. 22, 2021 on the website of U.S. Department of Justice documents that dozens of workers from Mexico and Central American countries have been smuggled to farms in the southern part of the state of Georgia, where they were illegally imprisoned under inhumane conditions as contract agricultural laborers, becoming victims of U.S. modern-day slavery.
After being cheated into farms with the promise of an hourly salary of 12 U.S. dollars, they were required to dig onions with their bare hands, paid 20 cents for each bucket harvested, and threatened with guns and violence to keep them in line. At least two of the workers died as a result of workplace conditions and one suffered from multiple sexual assault.
The New York Times website reported on Nov. 11, 2021 that hundreds of workers from India were lured to New Jersey, Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles etc. with the promise of fair pay and good hours, but instead they had nearly no time off from work that was grueling and frequently dangerous, moving stones that weighed several tons and facing health risks from exposure to harmful dust and chemicals. The workers were confined to their living quarters and had their passports confiscated, and were also threatened with retaliation, said the report.
对移民排斥越来越走向极端。移民政策摇摆不定、前后矛盾、罔顾人权，是导致边境危机和移民境遇悲惨的主因，折射出美国政府移民政策深受极端排外主义影响。《华盛顿邮报》网站2021年8月22日报道称，美国的移民政策受到国内种族主义怨恨和反移民情绪的推动，与国内政治恶斗纠缠在一起，越来越倾向于采取武力和胁迫的方式对待难民移民。《华盛顿邮报》2021年10月20日报道，2021财年，美国政府边境执法部门在南部边境拘留了170多万非法移民，创1986年以来的最高纪录。美国政府希望通过严厉的执法手段震慑非法越境者，加大了非法移民的入境难度，导致他们被迫选择穿越更危险的地区，进而带来更大的人道主义危机。
Exclusion of immigrants becomes more and more extreme. The immigration policy, that is wavering, inconsistent and often disregards human rights, is the main cause of border crisis and immigrants’ tragedy. The situation reflects that the policy is deeply affected by extreme xenophobia. According to an article published by Washington Post on Aug. 22 last year, with domestic debates in the U.S. over immigration increasingly driven by racialized resentment, anti-immigrant sentiment and entangled with domestic political battles, U.S. policymakers are more inclined to use techniques like force and coercion when resettling refugees. According to another article on Washington Post published on Oct. 20 last year, more than 1.7 million immigrants were detained by the U.S. Border Patrol along the southern border during the 2021 fiscal year, soaring to the highest level since 1986. The U.S. government hopes to deter illegal border crossing through tough law enforcement, which has made it more difficult for illegal immigrants to enter the country, resulting in them being forced to cross more dangerous areas. The situation in turn creates a larger humanitarian crisis.
