6月21日VOA聽力：中美國度災黎在美國處境艱苦
HOUSTON, TEXAS— A year ago, the nation’sattention across the U.S. was focused on whatwas described as a surge of immigrants fromCentral America, many of whom were childrenunaccompanied by their parents. U.S.immigration authorities detained many of thechildren and many adults as well, but let thousands free to live with relatives in theUnited States while awaiting their court hearing on charges of entering the countryillegally. Thousands of those immigrants continue efforts to gain legal status, withprospects that are uncertain.
Every day, dozens of people come to the office of Nelson Reyes seeking help on everythingfrom finding employment to filing income tax and pursuing a visa that would allow them to stayin this country legally.
He is the founder and director of the Central American Resource Center, which is located in ashopping center frequented by Latin American immigrants.
“They are coming from a third world country to a new system and they do not know anythingabout the system here,” said Reyes.
He said the center operates on fees clients pay for services, which he said are much lower thanthose of law firms uptown. “If someone comes here and wants to fight their case in court, theattorneys up there charge between$4 to $5,000 and we charge here $700, $750, it depends,”he said.
Reyes is not an attorney, but he and his staff can help people with basic procedures that donot always require an attorney. “They have court cases pending so we advise them of what it isthey need to file in court in order to get a better chance for their cases,” he stated.
But many thousands of Central Americans seeking refugee status have either been deported orare facing deportation.
Officials say the number of people trying to cross the border this year is less than half of whatit was last year, partly because Mexico has cracked down on illegal immigration from CentralAmerica.
U.S. officials have set up detention facilities in various parts of the country for minors and forwomen with small children, and has deported a large number of people who could not convincecourts that they had been targeted by drug gangs back home.
Nelson Reyes, who came to the United States in 1990 from El Salvador, said the immigrationsystem is often cruel. “That is why we need a system that is more humane that reallyunderstands that we are dealing with kids here that the way we treat them now will have animpact on their life,” he explained.
But, for now, many of these people fleeing violence and poverty in their homelands remain ina nether world, living here, but not able to pursue their own American dream.
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