巴西人利用墨西哥當做途徑進入美國

BRAZILIANS USE MEXICO AS PATH TO U.S.

(Larry Rohter: Read 044)

巴西人利用墨西哥當做途徑進入美國

      For years, Jaider de Andrade, a 35-year-old farm worker, talked about going to the United States to look for work, and early in March he finally agreed to a trafficker’s offer to fly him to Mexico and have him guided across the border there.  By month’s end, though, he was back home here again, in a coffin.  He died in an automobile accident in northern Mexico. 數年來一位35歲的農場工作者談到進入美國找工作以及稍早在3月時，他終於同意替一個商人當響導穿過墨西哥邊境到美國。在月底之前雖然他曾回家過，但他卻在墨西哥北面的一場汽車意外事故中喪生了。

      “His dream had always been for us to have a little house of our own, but he never could make enough here to get ahead,” his widow, Nilce Aparecida Moreira da Silva, said. “He knew there was some risk, but he wasn’t nervous, because he saw that so many other people from around here had gone and done well in the United States.”

他的遺孀說「在我們的城鎮中擁有一間小房子是他曾經有過的夢想，但是他卻無法達成」 「他知道那裡(墨西哥北面邊境)是有危險的，但是他並不害怕，因為他看到更多人從這裡離開後卻在美國做的很好」

      Encouraged by highly organized groups of smugglers offering relatively cheap packages, Brazilians recently have been migrating in record numbers to the United States.

藉由較高組織走私集團的助長激勵下，他們提供相對便宜的走私交易管道，導致了巴西人近來遷移美國的數量創下空前的紀錄
      With direct entry to the United States tougher than in the past, more often than not their route of choice is through Mexico, which in recent years has stopped requiring entry visas of Brazilians.

直接從墨西哥進入到美國的這條路線在過去是不被允許的，且最近幾年來巴西人進入墨西哥也不再需要簽證。

      During just two days in late April, Border Patrol agents in south Texas detained 232 Brazilians who had entered the United States illegally.  All told, more than 12,000 Brazilians have been apprehended trying to cross the United States-Mexican border this year, exceeding the number detained in all of 2004 and pushing Brazilians to the top of the category known as “other than Mexicans.”

在4月份的最後2天中共有232個巴西人遭到邊境巡邏警扣留，這些人被認定為非法入境美國。在今年共有超過12000個巴西人試圖穿越美墨邊境而被逮捕。且有相當數量的人被拘留並推定這些偷渡的巴西人被稱為other than Mexicans「除了墨西哥的其他人」

      Mexico, facing growing complaints from Washington, is now contemplating restoring visa formalities for Brazilians.

面對來自於華盛頓政府不斷升高的報怨下，墨西哥正思索是否要採取恢復對巴西人的入境簽證要求

      At the Federal Police office in Governador Valadares, the main city in this fertile region of rolling hills, the line of people seeking passports each day stretches around the block.

美國的聯邦警方也要求在這塊肥沃的土地上建立類似封鎖線的土山丘，以便能搜索檢查每天要從這裡通行的人們

      The Federal Police delegate for the region, Rui Antonio da Silva, estimated that 90 percent were headed for the United States via the Mexican route.  “We believe that just in this region there are about 30 gangs that offer this service to people,” he said.

 美國聯邦警官估計約有90％非法移民者會經由此條墨西哥路線來進入美國，「我們相信僅是在這個區域內就有30組的不法集團在此提供這項不法偷渡服務」

      Mr. da Silva said that last year his office issued an average of about 45 passports a day.  Since January the number has jumped to a daily average of 140.  A few minutes later, an assistant came into his office and said: “We hit a new record today, more than 200 passports.”

Mr. da Silva說：去年在他破獲的案件中一天平均就有45本護照被扣留，自從1月起數字則提升為一天平均有140本護照，幾分鐘之後，一名助理進入他的辦公室說：我們今天打破這項紀錄一天超過200本護照

      American authorities say that many of the trafficking gangs disguise themselves as travel agencies.  Governador Valadares, which is the source of the majority of the Brazilians apprehended on the Mexican border, now has more than 100 such firms, up from 40 just a couple of years ago.

美方說：相當多的不法幫派偽裝成旅行業者，且多數的巴西人在墨西哥邊境被逮捕的數量已從2年前的40家公司行號提升為現在的超過100家。

      People here who have been approached by trafficking rings said that the current rate for door-to-door transport to Boston, the preferred destination of illegal Brazilian immigrants, is about $10,500.  That is more than two years’ income for the average Brazilian, but effectively 30 percent less than a year ago, because the American dollar is weaker now.

接近不法集團的人士透露：目前的趨勢是將非法移民者直接運送到波士頓，這是巴西非法移民者的首選城市，其價格在美金10500元。這個價格是巴西人超過2年的平均收入。但事實上在一年以前因美元的疲軟此價格已減少約30％。

      Brazilian officials and residents of this region said that unlike smuggling situations in many other places, migrants do not pay in advance and do not pay at all if they fail to reach the United States, which greatly reduces the financial risk to potential migrants.

在此區域的巴西官員與居民表示：此區域的走私情況在許多的地方是有些不同的，例如這些非法移居者在事前是不用支付費用的，而且假設他們非法移民美國失敗的話同樣也無須支付任何費用，這種狀況將對潛在性的移居者在財務風險上大大地降低。

      The accelerating outflow of people has come as a surprise to Brazilians and a blow to their self-image.  This nation of 180 million has, after all, traditionally attracted millions of immigrants from Europe and Asia and prides itself on its social mobility.

這種加速的人潮外移，對巴西而言是意想不到的，而且也打擊了國家的自我形象。巴西畢竟擁有1億8千萬的人口，過去曾吸引數百萬來自歐亞洲的移民，並且以他的社會機動性引為自豪。

      Not only that, but Brazil’s economy has been doing well recently.  Furthermore, many of those leaving are not poor peasants, but young people more educated than the general population, including architects, engineers and other professionals.

不僅如此，巴西的經濟最近幾年做的很好，而且那些移民者並非是貧窮的農夫，反而是年輕人且比一般人更具有學歷者，這包括建築師、工程師和其他的專業人才。

      “What we have to accept is that this flow has to do with lack of opportunity, not with poverty or unemployment,” said Ana Cristina Braga Martes, a specialist in immigration issues at the Getulio Vargas Foundation, a leading research institution.  “It’s mainly the lower middle class from prosperous states, not the poor, who are going, and it’s because they can’t earn a fair wage here and have bought into the idea of the American dream.”

「我們必須去接受這種機會缺乏的潮流趨勢，而不是隨著貧窮與失業所帶來的問題」一位移民議題的專家說「這些移民者最主要是仍來自於中低度發展的繁榮地區而非貧民區，正因為他們在這些地區是沒有機會去賺取合理的薪水，且也能接受了美國夢的想法，」

      One sure sign that “making America” has entered the popular imagination is that in March, Brazil’s largest television network began broadcasting a soap opera called “America,” which follows a young woman’s efforts to get to the United States through Mexico and to adjust to life in Florida.

一種可以確定的是「建造成為美國的形式」已經深入一般人的理念之中，尤其是在3月，巴西的最大電視網開始播放一齣美國肥皂劇「America」此劇正敘述著一位年輕婦女從墨西哥到美國的奮鬥過程與她在佛羅里達的生活調適種種。

      Many here maintain that any effort to end trafficking schemes is bound to fail.  The smuggling rings will not be eliminated, the argument goes, but only be driven deeper underground.

在這裡仍有很多的計畫或方案期望能有效的終結非法情事，但最終一定是失敗的。因這些走私集團不但不會被消滅，而且將驅動他們轉入更為地下的秘密活動。

      “Nothing indicates that this flow will diminish, despite the efforts to scare people into not going,” Mayor Jose Bonifacio Mourao said.  “The incentives to go up there to the U.S. are still high.  If anything, the tendency is for the flow to increase.”

「沒有任何跡象顯示這樣的趨勢會趨緩，儘管這些努力是為了要嚇阻人們前進這塊美墨邊境」「但是前進美國的動機仍然不斷在上升，假設沒有其他選項下，前進美國的潮流仍將源源不斷的」