听力课堂TED音频栏目主要包括TED演讲的音频MP3及中英双语文稿，供各位英语爱好者学习使用。本文主要内容为演讲MP3+双语文稿:客工签证将如何改变美国的移民体系，希望你会喜欢！
【演讲者及介绍】David J. Bier
David J. Bier是卡托研究所全球自由与繁荣中心的移民政策分析师。
【演讲主题】客工签证将如何改变美国的移民体系
How guest worker visas could transform the US immigration system
【中英文字幕】
翻译者 Yangxue Zeng 校对者 Yanyan Hong
By October 2018, Juan Carlos Rivera could no longer afford to live in his home in Copan, Honduras. As the "Dallas Morning News" reported, a gang was taking 10 percent of his earnings from his barber shop. His wife was assaulted going to her pre-K teaching job. And they were concerned about the safety of their young daughter. What could they do? Run away? Seek asylum in another country? They didn't want to do that. They just wanted to live in their country safely.
到2018年10月，胡安·卡洛斯·里维拉（JuanCarlosRivera）就再也无法继续住在他位于洪都拉斯科潘的家了。据《达拉斯晨报》报道，一个帮派会跟他索要他理发店10%的营业额，他的妻子在去幼儿园上班路上被袭击。他们非常担心小女儿的安全。他们能怎么办？逃走？去另一个国家寻求庇护？他们不想这么做。他们只想安全地生活在他们的国家。
But their options were limited. So that month, Juan Carlos moved his family to a safer location while he joined a group of migrants on the long and perilous journey from Central America to a job a family member said was open for him in the United States.
但他们的选择有限。所以，在那个月，胡安·卡洛斯把家人转移到了一个更安全的地方，而他自己则加入了一群移民，踏上了这漫长而危险的旅程，从中美洲到美国，因为一位亲戚说那里有工作提供给他。
By now we're all familiar with what awaited them at the US-Mexico border. The harsher and harsher penalties doled out to those crossing there. The criminal prosecutions for crossing illegally. The inhumane detention. And most terribly, separation of families.
现在，我们非常清楚在美墨边境，等待着他们的是什么——对越境者日趋严格的处罚，对非法越境的起诉，非人道的拘留，以及最糟的，是与家人的分离。
I'm here to tell you that not only is this treatment wrong, it's unnecessary. This belief that the only way to maintain order is with inhumane means is inaccurate. And in fact, the opposite is true. Only a humane system will create order at the border. When safe, orderly, legal travel to the United States is available, very few people choose travel that is unsafe, disorderly or illegal. Now, I appreciate the idea that legal immigration could just resolve the border crisis might sound a bit fanciful. But here is the good news: We have done this before.
我要告诉大家的是，如此对待越境者不仅是错的，也是不必要的。认为只有通过以上非人道手段才能维护边境秩序的观点也是不准确的。恰恰相反，只有一个人道的体系才能维持边境秩序。当人们得以安全、有序、合法地抵达美国时，选择冒险非法越境的人将会寥寥无几。现在我很欣赏这一想法：“合法移民可以解决边境危机”。可能这听上去有点异想天开。但有个好消息是，我们曾经做到了。
I've been working on immigration for years at the Cato Institute and other think tanks in Washington DC and as the senior policy adviser for a republican member of Congress, negotiating bipartisan immigration reform. And I've seen firsthand how America has implemented a system of humane order at the border for Mexico. It's called a guest worker program. And here's the even better news. We can replicate this success for Central America.
我曾在卡托研究所（CatoInstitute）从事移民研究数年，也曾供职于其他位于华盛顿的智库，和作为共和党国会议员的政策顾问协商两党移民政策。关于美国如何在美墨边境建立人道的管理系统，我曾拿到过第一手资料。这个项目被称作客工专案。还有更好的消息，我们可以把这项成功用于中美洲问题上。
Of course, some people will still need to seek asylum at the border. But to understand how successful this could be for immigrants like Juan Carlos, understand that until recently, nearly every immigrant arrested by Border Patrol was Mexican.
当然，有些人仍需要在边境寻找庇护所。但请想一想这一专案将如何使得像胡安·卡洛斯这样的移民受益；而且最近，几乎每一个被边境巡逻队逮捕的移民都是墨西哥人。
In 1986, each Border Patrol agent arrested 510 Mexicans. Well over one per day. By 2019, this number was just eight. That's one every 43 days. It is a 98 percent reduction. So where have all the Mexicans gone?
1986年，平均每位边境巡逻人员每年逮捕510位墨西哥人，日均逮捕超一人。到了2019年，这一数字降至8人，意味着平均43天才一人。减少了98%。那么这些墨西哥人去了哪里呢？
The most significant change is that the US began issuing hundreds of thousands of guest worker visas to Mexicans, so that they can come legally. José Vásquez Cabrera was among the first Mexican guest workers to take advantage of this visa expansion. He told "The New York Times" that before his visa he'd made terrifying illegal border crossings, braving near deadly heat and the treachery of the landscape. One time, a snake killed a member of his group. Thousands of other Mexicans also didn't make it, dying of dehydration in the deserts or drowning in the Rio Grande. Millions more were chased down and arrested. Guest worker visas have nearly ended this inhumane chaos. As Vásquez Cabrera put it, "I no longer have to risk my life to support my family. And when I'm here, I don't have to live in hiding."
最重大的变化在于，美国向墨西哥人发放了数十万的客工签证，让他们得以合法地来到这个国家。何塞·巴斯克斯·卡布雷拉（JoséVásquezCabrera）是首批获益于签证开放政策的墨西哥客工。他告诉《纽约时报》，在获得他的签证前，他尝试过可怕的非法越境方式——勇敢地面对致命的高温，与险象环生的沿途环境。曾有一次，他的团里有人被蛇咬死。成千上万的墨西哥人没能成功越境，最终在沙漠中脱水而死或葬身于格兰德河。数百万人被追捕。客工签证的签发几乎终止了这些非人道主义混乱。正如巴斯克斯·卡布雷拉（VásquezCabrera）所言，“我不再需要冒着生命危险来养活我的家庭，而当我抵达了美国后，我不再需要东躲西藏地生活。”
Guest worker visas actually reduced the number of illegal crossings more than the number of visas issued. Jose Bacilio, another Mexican guest worker, explained why to the "Washington Post" in April. He said, even though he hadn't received a visa this year, he wouldn't risk all of his future chances by crossing illegally. This likely helps explain why from 1996 to 2019 for every guest worker admitted legally from Mexico, there was a decline in two arrests of Mexicans crossing illegally.
客工签证减少的非法越境数量，甚至高于签证实际签发的数量。另一位墨西哥客工，何塞·巴西里奥（JoseBacilio）在4月向《华盛顿邮报》解释了原因。他说道，即使他今年未能获得签证，他也不会为了非法越境而赌上他的未来。这或多或少能解释为何从1996年到2019年，每当有一位客工从墨西哥合法入境，因非法入境而遭逮捕的墨西哥人就会减少两名。
Now, it's true, Mexican guest workers do some really tough jobs. Picking fruit, cleaning crabs, landscaping in a 100-degree heat. And some critics maintain that guest worker visas are not actually humane and that the workers are just abused slaves. But Vásquez Cabrera thought a guest worker visa was liberating. Not enslavement. And he, like nearly all other guest workers, chose the legal path over the illegal one, repeatedly. The expansion of guest worker visas to Mexicans has been among the most significant humane changes in US immigration policy ever. And that humane change imposed order on chaos.
的确，墨西哥客工们做着非常辛苦的工作，采摘水果，清洗螃蟹，在38摄氏度的高温下做园艺工作。有些批评的声音认为客工签证并不人道，那些客工就是被虐待的奴隶。但巴斯克斯·卡布雷拉认为客工签证是一种解放，无关奴役。正如其他客工，巴斯克斯·卡布雷拉也坚持选择以合法的方式入境。给予墨西哥人更多的客工签证是美国移民政策有史以来最重大的人道主义转变。这一人道主义转变，为混乱的边境带来了秩序。
So where does this leave Central Americans, like Juan Carlos? Well, Central Americans received just three percent of the guest worker visas issued in 2019, even as their share of border arrests has risen to 74 percent. The US issued just one guest worker visa to a Central American for every 78 who crossed the border illegally in 2019. So if they can't get their papers at home, many take their chances, coming up through Mexico to claim asylum at the border or cross illegally, even if, like Juan Carlos, they prefer to come to work.
那么，这一举措对于像胡安·卡洛斯一样的中美洲人又意味着什么呢？在2019年，只有3%的客工签证发给了中美洲人，但在边境被捕的人当中，中美洲人数已经上升到了74%。在2019年，每78名中美洲非法越境者中，才有一名中美洲人得到合法客工签证。如果他们无法通过合法渠道获得入境许可，很多人就会开始冒险——到墨西哥边境处申请庇护，或直接非法越境，即使像胡安·卡洛斯这样的人们更倾向于到美国工作。
The US can do better. It needs to create new guest worker visas specifically for Central Americans. This would create an incentive for US businesses to seek out and hire Central Americans, paying for their flights to the United States, and diverting them from the illegal, dangerous trek north. Central Americans could build flourishing lives at home, without the need to seek asylum at the border or cross illegally, freeing up an overwhelmed system.
美国有能力改善这一情况。这需要美国特别为中美洲国家签发客工签证。这将成为美国市场雇佣中美洲人的一大激励因素——报销中美洲人的旅费、将他们从违法而危险的北上旅程中拯救。中美洲人可以在国内过上富足的生活，而不用再在边境处需求庇护所或非法越境，这将解放被压垮的边境移民管理系统。
Some people might say that letting the workers go back and forth will never work in Central America where violence is so high. But again, it worked in Mexico, even as Mexico's murder rate more than tripled over the last decade, to a level higher than much of Central America. And it would work for Juan Carlos, who said, despite the threats he only wants to live in the United States temporarily, to make enough money to sustain his family in their new home. He even suggested that a guest worker program would be one of the best things to help Hondurans like him.
有些人可能会说，允许工人们来回奔波，并不会真正帮到暴力肆虐的中美洲。但是这个方法在墨西哥奏效了，即使墨西哥的谋杀率在过去十年间增长了至少两倍，高于中美洲大部分国家。这将会对胡安·卡洛斯奏效，因为他说，即使危机重重，他只想暂时在美国生活，以赚取足够的钱财，能让他的家庭继续住在新家。他甚至认为，客工专案是对他这样的洪都拉斯人而言最好的援助项目之一。
Cintia, a 29-year-old single mother of three from Honduras, seems to agree. She told the "Wall Street Journal" that she came for a job to support her kids and her mom. Surveys of Central Americans traveling through Mexico, by the College of the Northern Border in Mexico, confirm that Juan and Cintia are the norm. Most, not all, but most do come for jobs, even if, like the Riveras, they may also face some real threats at home.
一位29岁，抚养三个孩子的洪都拉斯单身母亲辛提雅（Cintia），似乎也同意这一点。她告诉《华尔街日报》，她为了抚养孩子们和照顾她的母亲才来到美国。由墨西哥北方边境大学对穿越墨西哥的中美洲人所做的一项调查，证实了大多数中美洲人像胡安和辛提雅一样。大多数中美洲人为了工作来到美国，即使很多人可能像胡安一样，在本国也面临着巨大的生存威胁。
How much would a low-wage job help a Honduran, like Juan or Cintia? Hondurans like them make as much in one month in the United States as they do in an entire year working in Honduras. A few years' work in the United States can propel a Central American into its upper middle class where safety is easier to come by.
一份低薪水的工作，又如何能帮到像胡安和辛提雅这样的洪都拉斯人呢？像他们一样的洪都拉斯人在美国一个月的工资可以抵得上他们在洪都拉斯工作一年的收入。而在美国工作几年的工资可使一位中美洲人跃升到社会中上阶层，同时使生活更安全。
What Central Americans lack is not the desire to work. Not the desire to contribute to the US economy, to contribute to the lives of Americans. What Central Americans lack is a legal alternative to asylum. To be able to do so legally.
中美洲人现在不缺少对工作的渴求，不缺少为美国经济、美国人民做出贡献的渴望。他们缺少的是一个边境避难所的合法替代方案——合法在美国工作的许可。
Of course, a new guest worker program will not resolve 100 percent of this complex phenomenon. Many asylum seekers will still need to seek safety at the US border. But with the flows reduced, we can more easily work out ways to deal with them humanely. But ultimately, no single policy has proven to do more to create an immigration system that is both humane and orderly than to let the workers come legally.
当然，一个新的客工专案无法解决全部的移民问题。或许很多寻找庇护的人仍然会在美国边境寻求安置。但当趋势减缓，我们更容易想办法以人道的方式来帮助他们。但最终，没有任何一项政策被证明比让工人合法入境更有助于建立一个既人道又有序的移民体系。
Thank you.
谢谢。
(Applause)
（掌声）