经济学人355:移民政治学(1)

 　　IT MAY have taken the Supreme 1 Court just an hour to wrap up its discussion of illegal immigration this week, but America’s politicians, it seems, cannot get enough of the subject. It will be several months before the court rules on the case in question, which concerns a state law in Arizona, but Democratic leaders in the Senate are already planning a vote to overturn its decision if the law is upheld. That vote would presumably fail, thanks to Republican opposition 2, but it would allow the Democrats 3 to keep the subject in the news. Democrats are also attacking Mitt 4 Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee 5 for president, for supporting the law. Mr Romney, meanwhile, has dismissed the whole fuss as an effort to distract Hispanic voters from Mr Obama’s failings as steward 6 of the economy. The outcome of the presidential race, both sides acknowledge, could conceivably hinge on whether it is the state of the economy or laws like Arizona’s that stir more indignation among Hispanics.

　　最高法院本周对于非法移民的讨论也许只持续了一个小时，但是美国的政客们看上去从未停止在非法移民这个问题上大做文章. 最高法院裁决这个涉及到亚利桑那州州法律的案子还将花上几个月,但是参议院中民主党的领袖已经在计划,一旦最高法院判亚利桑那州州法律有效,就发动一场投票来推翻这一决议.由于参议院中共和党的反对,这一投票多半会失败,但民主党却能把这一话题保留在公众视野中.民主党也批评米特·罗姆尼,因为这位预定的共和党总统竞选人支持这一法律.同时,罗姆尼认为这整场闹剧只不过是民主党人想借此来分散西班牙裔选民的注意力,让他们忽视奥巴马总统作为经济守门人的失职. 民主共和两党都承认,经济状态和激起西班牙裔美国人愤慨的亚利桑那州法律,都可能影响总统大选的结果.
　　Arizona’s bill, passed in 2010, seeks to discourage illegal immigration by making it a crime under state as well as federal law and by instructing state authorities to be on the lookout 7 for illegal immigrants. Civil-liberties groups worry that this will lead to harassment 8 of anyone with brown skin, even though the law expressly prohibits such “profiling”. There is no easy way for the authorities to judge an individual’s immigration status, argue opponents, so many citizens will be subjected to unwarranted checks.
　　亚利桑那州这一法案于2010年通过,旨在让州法律和联邦法律把非法移民认定为犯罪行为,并引导州政府密切搜寻非法移民者,以此来打击非法移民活动.公民自由组织担忧这将给那些古铜色肤色的人带来困扰,尽管法案中明令禁止"按肤色下定论". 反对者称,官方鉴定个人的移民身份从来就不是一件容易的事,所以许多美国公民被迫接受未经批准的检查.
　　That prospect 9 seemed to concern several justices during the oral arguments on the law before the Supreme Court. Stephen Breyer, for example, fretted 10 about the possible fate under the law of a jogger carrying only a driver’s licence from New Mexico, a state that borders Arizona and used to issue licences to illegal immigrants. But the solicitor-general said he was not challenging the law on the grounds that it would discriminate 11 against Latinos. Instead he argued that the law pre-empts the federal government’s power to set immigration policy. Its defenders 12 retort that it aims only to help the federal government fulfil its obligations on immigration, and that only an administration that was deliberately 13 neglecting them could find fault with it.
　　这件事的可能性,令几位法官对庭上的案子有所忧虑,他们有过几番辩论.比如,根据这项法律,史蒂芬·拜耳就担心某位从新墨西哥州过来,身上只带驾照的慢跑者的命运,因为新墨西哥州毗邻亚利桑那州,而且曾经给非法移民发放过驾照.但是副检察长则说道,他反对这项法律并不是基于该法律会歧视拉美裔美国人这一点。相对的他说这项法律夺取了联邦政府制定移民政策的权力.它的辩护者们则反驳,这项法律只是为了帮助联邦政府履行制定移民政策的义务,并且只有故意忽视他们的政府才会发现这项法律有问题.
　　The Supreme Court’s verdict will determine the fate not just of Arizona’s law, but of similar measures in five other states. As successive presidents have promised but failed to tackle the question of America’s 10m-odd illegal immigrants, frustration 14 at the federal government’s inertia 15 has grown, especially among conservative voters. Republican-controlled legislatures in several states have attempted to take matters into their own hands. The need for a crackdown on illegal immigration seems to have become an article of faith among Republican primary voters. The presidential bid of Rick Perry, the governor of Texas, came to grief partly because he had signed a law allowing certain undocumented students to pay the same rates as other state residents at public universities.
　　最高法院的判决不仅将决定亚利桑那州这一法律的命运,还将影响其他五个州采取的类似措施的命运.接连几任总统都承诺解决这一困扰美国超过1000万非法移民的问题,但都失败了,因此人们对政府惰性的失望情绪日渐增长,特别是在保守派的选民中.共和党掌握的几个州的立法机关已经试着处理这件事情.取缔非法移民很有必要,这似乎在共和党初选选民中成了一种信条.里克·佩里这位德克萨斯州州长的总统竞选之路最终失败,或许有一部分原因是因为他曾经签署了一项法律,这项法律允许某些没有正式身份的学生和本州学生用一样的比例支付公立大学的学费.
　　Even as the debate about illegal immigration has become shriller, the phenomenon itself has declined. The recession has helped to stem the flow of job-seekers across America’s southern border. Despite more vigorous policing, the number of people caught trying to cross has declined markedly. This week the Pew Hispanic Centre, a research institute, released a report arguing that Mexicans, who once accounted for most of the illegal influx 16, are now leaving the country in greater numbers than they are entering it.
　　尽管对非法移民本身的争论日渐激化,这种现象本身却在减少.美国经济衰退,阻止了一大批想跨过美国南方边境来找工作的人.尽管监管越来越严密,被当场抓住试图穿越国境的人的数量却显著下降.本周一家研究机构,皮尤西裔研究中心发布了一份报告,称过去墨西哥人占据了非法移民者中的大多数,而现在他们离开美国的人数比进入美国的还要多.