Asylum Seekers’ Court Cases Keep Growing

Asylum Seekers’ Court Cases Keep Growing

寻求庇护者的法院案件持续增长

【听力音频】

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　　By

　　20 January 2024

　　The record number of immigrants entering the United States illegally has resulted in 3 million cases awaiting judgement in immigration courts around the country.

　　The city of Miami, Florida, is at the center of the immigration wave. There, 261,000 removal proceedings are awaiting a hearing.

　　Just 12 years ago, that number would have covered the whole country, said Austin Kocher. He is a professor at Syracuse University in New York who researches federal immigration detention.

　　The Associated Press (AP) reports that Miami has the longest list, or docket, of these cases. The backlog includes immigrants who have been in the United States for many years but were arrested on charges not related to their entry into the country.

　　Most, however, are asylum seekers. They have told border security officials that they fear they will be in danger if they return to their home country.

　　The AP reports that the number of people being apprehended for illegally crossing the southern U.S. border has reached record levels. As a result, the court backlog of cases grew by more than 1 million in the last fiscal year.

　　Information from Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearing house says the case backlog is three times larger than it was in 2019.

　　Judges, lawyers and migrant activists say they are worried the system no longer works.

　　It often takes several years to either grant people asylum or deport those who have no right to remain in the country.

　　The courts are administered by the Department of Justice. The backlogged courts have received limited attention.

　　What happens at the border?

　　When U.S. officials apprehend migrants at the border, a record is made of their detention. Most are then released into the U.S. and are told to appear in court in the city where they are headed. The information is passed from the Department of Homeland Security to the Justice Department, where the Executive Office for Immigration Review operates the courts.

　　Randy McGrorty is executive director of Catholic Legal Services for the Archdiocese of Miami, which has hundreds of thousands of migrants in its communities. He said, "They're just being released without any idea of what comes next."

　　Many immigrants come to the Catholic Legal Services for advice. It is now teaching them how to represent themselves before judges.

　　Miguel Mora is a Catholic Legal Services lawyer in Miami. He said, "We help them understand what judges want, and we help judges..."

　　When immigrants go to court

　　Aaron Rodriguez and Cindy Baneza are in their 20s. They recently appeared in an immigration court in Miami with three children. They are not married.

　　They communicated with the judge with the help of an interpreter. It had been eight months since they crossed the Rio Grande River and entered the U.S. illegally. They asked the judge to give them more time to find a lawyer so they could file an asylum claim.

　　Rodriguez, who is 23, told Judge Christina Martyak that he had no money for a lawyer. He had already received an extension for not having a lawyer.

　　Rodriguez and Baneza said they fled Honduras after a gang threatened them. The violent group had killed the father of Baneza's oldest child. The gang threatened them with more violence unless they paid them money they earned from their tortilla business.

　　Rodriguez told the AP: "We were left with no other option than get out of the country."

　　Judge Martyak agreed to give Rodriguez and Baneza an additional three months. She told them to seek free legal assistance from the Catholic Archdiocese of Miami.

　　The backlog keeps growing

　　Time does not reduce the backlog, however. Government records show that judges completed far more cases in the last year than ever before. But their dockets keep growing.

　　Mimi Tsankov is president of the National Association of Immigration Judges. Tsankov said the average number of cases per judge is now 5,000. She said if the number of judges doubled to about 1,400, the current backlog would be solved by 2032.

　　In the latest budget request, the Executive Office for Immigration Review said it is requesting that Congress provide money for 150 new judges and support workers, the AP reports.

　　Paul Schmidt is a retired immigration government lawyer. He was working when the last major system reform took place nearly 40 years ago. He said the system can only be fixed with major policy changes. One example of such a change would be to permit most asylum cases to be solved through an administrative process instead of through a court of law.

　　I'm Caty Weaver. And I'm Mario Ritter, Jr.

　　Giovanna Dell'Orto reported this story for the Associated Press. Mario Ritter, Jr. adapted it for VOA Learning English.

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　　截至2024年1月20日，进入美国的非法移民数量创纪录，导致全国各地的移民法庭有300万宗案件等待审判。

　　佛罗里达州的迈阿密市是这波移民潮的中心。在那里，有261,000宗驱逐程序正在等待听证。

　　奥斯汀·科赫尔说，仅仅12年前，这个数字就已经覆盖了全国。他是纽约雪城大学的一位教授，研究联邦移民拘留问题。

　　美联社（AP）报道称，迈阿密的案件清单（或称案卷）最长。积压的案件包括在美国居住多年但因与入境无关的罪名被捕的移民。

　　然而，大多数人是寻求庇护者。他们告诉边境安全官员，如果他们回到自己的祖国，他们将面临危险。

　　美联社报道称，因非法越过美国南部边境而被捕的人数已经达到了创纪录的水平。因此，上一财年法院案件的积压数量增加了超过100万。

　　来自雪城大学交易记录访问清理中心的信息显示，案件积压数量是2019年的三倍。

　　法官、律师和移民活动人士表示，他们担心这个系统已经无法正常运作。

　　通常需要几年时间才能授予人们庇护或驱逐那些无权留在该国的人。

　　这些法院由司法部管理。积压的法院收到的关注有限。

　　边境上发生了什么？

　　当美国官员在边境处扣留移民时，会记录他们的拘留情况。大多数人随后被释放进入美国，并被告知要在他们前往的城市出庭。这些信息从国土安全部传递到司法部，由司法部的移民审查执行办公室负责运营这些法院。

　　兰迪·麦格罗蒂是迈阿密教区天主教法律服务的执行主任，该教区的社区中有数十万移民。他说：“他们只是被释放，对接下来会发生什么一无所知。”

　　许多移民来到天主教法律服务寻求建议。现在，它正在教他们如何在法官面前自我辩护。

　　米格尔·莫拉是迈阿密的一名天主教法律服务律师。他说：“我们帮助他们理解法官想要什么，我们也帮助法官......”

　　当移民去法庭时

　　亚伦·罗德里格斯和辛迪·巴内扎都在他们20多岁。他们最近带着三个孩子出现在迈阿密的一家移民法庭上。他们并未结婚。

　　他们在一名翻译的帮助下与法官交流。自从他们越过里奥格兰德河非法进入美国已经过去了八个月。他们请求法官给他们更多的时间找律师，以便他们能提出庇护申请。

　　23岁的罗德里格斯告诉法官克里斯蒂娜·马蒂亚克，他没有钱请律师。他已经因为没有律师而获得了延期。

　　罗德里格斯和巴内扎说，他们在一帮派威胁他们后逃离了洪都拉斯。这个暴力团伙杀死了巴内扎最大的孩子的父亲。除非他们用他们的玉米饼生意赚来的钱支付给这个帮派，否则他们将受到更多的暴力威胁。

　　罗德里格斯告诉美联社：“我们别无选择，只能离开这个国家。”

　　马蒂亚克法官同意给罗德里格斯和巴内扎额外的三个月时间。她告诉他们去迈阿密天主教教区寻求免费的法律援助。

　　积压的案件持续增长

　　然而，时间并没有减少积压的案件。政府记录显示，去年法官们完成的案件数量比以往任何时候都要多。但他们的案件清单却在不断增长。

　　米米·桑科夫是全国移民法官协会的主席。桑科夫说，现在每位法官的平均案件数量是5000件。她说，如果法官的数量增加一倍到大约1400人，那么现在的积压案件将在2032年得到解决。

　　美联社报道，移民审查执行办公室在最新的预算请求中表示，它正在请求国会为150名新的法官和支持工作人员提供资金。

　　保罗·施密特是一位退休的移民政府律师。他在近40年前的最后一次重大系统改革时还在工作。他说，只有通过重大政策变革才能修复这个系统。这样的变革的一个例子就是允许大多数庇护案件通过行政程序解决，而不是通过法庭。

　　我是凯蒂·韦弗。我是马里奥·里特尔，Jr。

　　乔瓦纳·德尔奥托为美联社报道了这个故事。马里奥·里特尔，Jr.为美国之音学习英语改编了它。

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　　本故事中的词汇

　　proceedings –n.(pl.) 法庭程序，法律案件中出庭的过程

　　backlog –n. 待完成任务的数量

　　apprehend –v. 被捕或被逮捕

　　fiscal year –n. 财务目的的12个月期间

　　grant –v. 以官方方式给予法律许可

　　deport –v. 通过法律程序被从一个国家驱逐出去

　　file –v. 提交文件以满足法律或财务要求；将文件存放在有组织的存储中