纽约时报中文网 - 中英对照版-中英走线润美自南美入境美国的中国移民数量骤增

The surge of migrants entering the United States across the southern border increasingly includes people from a surprising place: China.

跨越南部边境进入美国的移民潮中，越来越多的人来自一个令人惊讶的地方：中国。

Despite the distances involved and the difficulties of the journey, more than 24,000 Chinese citizens have been apprehended crossing into the United States from Mexico in the past year. That is more than in the preceding 10 years combined, according to government data.

尽管路途遥远，旅程艰难，但去年有超过2.4万名中国公民从墨西哥越境进入美国时被逮捕。政府数据显示，这一数字超过了此前10年的总和。

They typically fly into Ecuador, where they do not need a visa. Then, like hundreds of thousands of other migrants from Central and South America and more distant locations, they pay smugglers to guide their travel through the dangerous jungle between Colombia and Panama en route to the United States. Once there, they turn themselves in to border officials and many seek asylum.

他们通常飞往厄瓜多尔，那里不需要签证。然后，像成千上万来自中南美洲和更遥远地区的其他移民一样，他们付钱给人蛇，让他们穿过哥伦比亚和巴拿马之间的危险丛林前往美国。一旦到了那里，他们就会向边境官员自首，许多人会寻求庇护。

And most succeed, in turn fueling further attempts. Chinese citizens are more successful than people from other countries with their asylum claims in immigration court. And those who are not end up staying anyway because China usually will not take them back.

大多数人成功了，这反过来又刺激了更多人进行尝试。与其他国家的人相比，中国公民在移民法庭上申请庇护的成功率更高。而那些申请不成功的人最终还是会留下来，因为中国通常不会接纳他们。

In the polarizing debate over immigration, it is a little-discussed wrinkle in the U.S. system: American officials cannot force countries to take back their own citizens. For the most part, this is not an issue. But about a dozen countries are not terribly cooperative, and China is the worst offender.

在围绕移民问题展开的两极化辩论中，这个问题很少被提及：美国官员不能强迫其他国家接收自己的公民。在大多数情况下，这不是问题。但是有十几个国家并不十分合作，中国是其中最严重的。

Of the 1.3 million people in the United States with final orders to be deported, about 100,000 are Chinese, according to an administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the internal data.

一名因讨论内部数据而要求匿名的政府官员表示，在美国，有130万人最终被下令驱逐出境，其中约有10万人是中国人。

The migrants are part of an exodus of citizens who have grown frustrated with harsh restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic and the direction of Xi Jinping’s authoritarian government. The trend has been coined the “run philosophy,” with citizens escaping to Japan, Europe and the United States.

这些移民是大批外逃公民的一部分，新冠疫情相关的严厉限制措施和习近平威权政府的走向让他们感到失望。这一趋势被称为“润学”，人们纷纷逃往日本、欧洲和美国。

“The largest reason for me is the political environment,” Mark Xu, 35, a Chinese elementary and middle school English teacher, said in February, as he waited to board a boat in Necoclí, Colombia, a beach town in the north. China was so stifling, he added, it had become “difficult to breathe.”

“对我来说，最大的原因是政治环境，”今年2月，35岁的中国中小学英语教师马克·徐（音）在哥伦比亚北部的海滨小镇内科克利等船时说。他还表示，中国太令人窒息了，已经变得令人“难以呼吸”。

He was among about 100 Chinese migrants setting off that morning to start the journey through the treacherous Darién Gap, the only land route to the United States from South America. Mr. Xu said he learned about the trek from YouTube and through Google searches, including “how to get outside of China” and “how to escape.”

他是那天早上出发的大约100名中国移民中的一员，他们开始穿越危险的达里姆峡谷，这是从南美到美国的唯一陆路。马克·徐说，他从YouTube和在谷歌上搜索诸如如何离开中国“和”如何逃离“，从而了解到这一跋涉路线。

In the last two years, the area has been one of the most difficult portions of a desperate journey for large numbers of migrants seeking to go north. So far, 481,000 people have crossed through the jungle this year, compared with 248,000 last year, according to Panamanian officials.

在过去的两年里，该地区一直是大量北上移民艰险旅程中最困难的部分之一。据巴拿马官员称，到目前为止，今年有48.1万人穿越丛林，去年为24.8万人。

Most of the migrants have been Venezuelans, Ecuadoreans and Haitians fleeing crises at home, including economic and security problems. But this year, more and more Chinese have embarked on the journey.

其中大多数移民是委内瑞拉人、厄瓜多尔人和海地人，他们都是为了逃离国内的危机，包括经济和安全问题。但今年，越来越多的中国人走上了这条路。

So many have crossed that Chinese citizens are now the fourth-largest group traversing the jungle.

中国公民已成为穿越丛林的第四大群体。

Many fly to Turkey before heading to Ecuador and making their way to the United States.

许多人先飞往土耳其，然后前往厄瓜多尔，再前往美国。

More than 24,000 came to the United States during the 2023 fiscal year, according to government data. Over the previous 10 years, fewer than 15,000 Chinese migrants were caught crossing the southern border illegally.

根据政府数据，在2023财年，这样来到美国的在2023财年有2.4万人。在过去10年里，只有不到1.5万名中国移民被抓到非法越过南部边境。

The historic levels of migration across the southern border are a major political problem in the United States, where President Biden faces fierce pressure to curb the flow; the Chinese migrants are a small fraction.

跨越南部边境的移民数量创下历史新高是美国的一个重大政治问题，拜登总统面临着遏制移民流动的巨大压力；中国移民只占其中一小部分。

Most who have come to the United States in the past year were middle-class adults who have headed to New York after being released from custody.

过去一年来到美国的大多数人都是中产阶级成年人，他们获释后前往纽约。

New York has been a prime destination for migrants from other nations as well, particularly Venezuelans, who rely on the city’s resources, including its shelters. But few of the Chinese migrants are staying in the shelters. Instead, they are going where Chinese citizens have gone for generations: Flushing, Queens. Or to some, the Chinese Manhattan.

纽约也是其他国家移民的主要目的地，尤其是委内瑞拉人，他们依赖这座城市的资源，包括庇护所。但很少有中国移民住在庇护所。相反，他们要去的是数代中国人前往的地方：皇后区的法拉盛。或者对一些人来说，那里是中国人的曼哈顿。

“New York is a self-sufficient Chinese immigrants community,” said the Rev. Mike Chan, the executive director of the Chinese Christian Herald Crusade, a faith-based group in the neighborhood. Newcomers do not have to speak English because so many speak Mandarin or Cantonese, he added, making it easier to find a job as well. That kind of network helps people find immigration lawyers, housing and other basic needs.

“纽约是个自成一体的华人移民社区，”该社区的信仰团体——基督教角声布道团的总监陈炽牧师表示。他还说，新移民不必会讲英语，因为这里许多人都会说普通话或粤语，这让他们也更容易找到工作。这样的社会网络可以帮助人们聘请移民律师、寻找住房和满足其他基本需求。

Their route to Flushing through a South American jungle is what makes the most recent arrivals different. In the past, most Chinese asylum seekers have come on a visa and then applied once they were in the United States. The last time such an influx of Chinese migrants entered illegally, they came by sea in the 1990s. But the current volume is much higher.

最近几批移民与以往移民最大的不同就在于，他们是通过走线穿越南美丛林抵达法拉盛的。以往大多数来自中国的庇护寻求者都持有签证，到了美国就马上提出申请。上一次中国移民如此大规模非法入境还是在上世纪90年代通过海路抵达的。但眼下这一波的人数要多得多。

“America is the greatest power in the world, isn’t it?” a 29-year-old Chinese migrant who would identify himself only by his nickname and surname, Little Xu, said recently outside a Taiwanese tea shop in Flushing. Mr. Xu was taking a break from his job as a messenger and asked that his full name not be used out of fear of retribution.

“美国是世界上最强大的国家，不是吗？”一名29岁的中国移民最近在法拉盛的一家台湾茶店外说道，他要求仅以姓氏昵称“小徐”（音）具名。小徐是一名跑腿，当时正在工作途中休息，由于担心遭到报复，他要求不使用全名。

He left China, he said, to find work. “I’ve lost hope where I lived,” he said, describing his job as a jewelry salesman in central Hubei Province and how his boss had stopped paying him. Mr. Xu arrived in Flushing in August after a two-month journey from China, which included hiking through the jungle in rain so heavy that his shoes ripped open.

他说自己离开中国是为了找工作。“我对我生活的地方失去了希望，”他说，他描述了自己在湖北从事珠宝销售的工作，以及老板如何不再给他发工资。小徐从中国出发，于8月抵达法拉盛，在两个月的路途中，他曾在暴雨中徒步穿越丛林，鞋子都被雨水泡裂了。

Migrants seeking asylum have to wait about six months after they file their application to get permission to work legally. More recent arrivals will wait years for their cases to wind through the system.

寻求庇护的移民必须在提交申请后等待大约六个月才能获得合法的工作许可。更近期抵达的移民更是要等待数年时间。

In general, Chinese asylum seekers are more successful in immigration court than most. About 67 percent of applicants from China were granted asylum from 2001 to 2021, according to data analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.

总体而言，中国的庇护寻求者在移民法庭上的胜诉率比大多数人都要高。雪城大学政府档案交流中心分析的数据显示，在2001年至2021年间，约有67%的中国申请者获得了庇护。

And those who are ordered removed are not likely to be deported.

而那些被下了驱逐令的人也不太可能遭遣返。

Muzaffar Chishti, a senior fellow with the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute, said as long as that happened, the migration trend would continue.

无党派机构移民政策研究所的高级研究员穆扎法尔·奇什蒂表示，只要这种情况还在发生，移民潮就会继续下去。

“If you make it to the U.S., then you’re more likely than not to be able to stay,” he said. “So it’s absolutely worth the chance of taking that risk.”

“只要能抵达美国，你就很有可能留下来，”他说。“为此冒这个风险是绝对值得的。”

Still, the exodus of Chinese citizens, particularly those of working age, to the United States and elsewhere presents a challenge to China in the long run, according to Carl Minzner, a senior fellow for China studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.

尽管如此，美国外交关系协会的中国事务高级研究员明克胜(Carl Minzner)表示，从长远来看，大批中国公民——特别是那些劳动适龄者——前往美国和其他国家还是会给中国带来挑战。

For the first time in 60 years, China’s population is shrinking, with fewer births than deaths. And its economy is growing at its slowest rate in 40 years.

中国人口60年来首次出现萎缩，出生人数比死亡人数还少。而中国经济的增长速度已经降到40年来的最低点。

With other countries that have refused to take back their citizens, the United States has withheld aid money or used similar leverage to gain cooperation. It also has the ability to restrict access to certain visas, as it did in 2017 with Cambodia, Eritrea, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

如果他国拒绝接收被遣返公民，美国要么暂停资金援助，要么利用类似的手段取得合作。美国还有能力限制某些签证的核发，就像在2017年对柬埔寨、厄立特里亚、几内亚和塞拉利昂的政策一样。

But those have not been compelling arguments for China, which receives little U.S. aid. And as its relations with the United States have deteriorated over the years, the issue has not appeared to be a priority.

但这对中国来说意义没那么大，因为中国很少获得美国援助。而且由于中美关系数年来不断恶化，这个问题似乎并非优先事项。

When Mr. Biden and Mr. Xi met last week during an international summit in San Francisco, for instance, immigration was absent in their discussion. Instead, they talked about fentanyl, American business investment in China and export controls, among other topics.

譬如上周拜登与习近平在旧金山的国际峰会期间会晤，移民就不在他们的讨论范围内。他们谈论的是芬太尼、美国企业在华投资和出口管制等问题。

In the past, American diplomats have tried to work with the Chinese government to persuade it to repatriate its citizens, and the response has tended to be the same.

在过去，美国外交官曾寻求中国政府的合作，说服其在遣返本国公民的问题上进行协助。但他们得到的回应往往是相同的。

“They would just plain refuse to acknowledge the person was Chinese,” said Michele Thoren Bond, a former assistant secretary of state who worked on these issues.

“他们会直接拒绝承认那个人是中国人，”曾负责这些问题的前助理国务卿米歇尔·托伦·庞德表示。

“It is not credible that a country that documents and monitors its citizens as closely as China does not have photos of every citizen,” Ms. Bond added.

“像中国这种记录和监控公民如此严密的国家会没有掌握每位公民的照片，这是很不可信的，”庞德补充道。