爲移民爭權利 美國亞裔努力打破沉默

As immigration activists gathered in Lower Manhattan on Friday afternoon, chanting in Spanish to denounce the Supreme Court deadlock that effectively shut down President Obama’s program of deportation relief, a group of eight advocates stood quietly in the back.

週五下午，移民活動人士聚集在曼哈頓下城，用西班牙語高喊口號，譴責最高法院的僵持局面。此時此刻，一個由八名倡導人士組成的團體安靜地站在後面。最高法院此次票數持平的結果，實際上禁止了美國總統奧巴馬的驅逐出境救助項目。

They held hand-painted signs of protest. “We’re all immigrants,” one sign said in Chinese. “We want to see comprehensive immigration reform,” another said in Korean. Not so pithy, but present.

他們舉着手寫的抗議牌。“我們都是移民，”其中一個牌子上用中文寫道。“我們想看到全面的移民改革，”另一個用韓文寫道。不算簡潔有力，但至少可以被看到。

Asian immigrants and their advocates say they are used to being a minority within a minority at rallies such as these, and Friday’s gathering, organized by the immigration rights group Make the Road New York was no different. The small band from the MinKwon Center for Community Action, a predominately Korean advocacy group that also serves the Chinese community in Flushing, Queens, was but a fraction of the 100 protesters.

亞洲移民及其支持者表示，他們習慣於在此類集會活動中充當少數羣體中的少數羣體，在移民維權組織“紐約開路”(Make the Road New York)週五組織的這場活動上也是如此。在現場上百名抗議者中，來自韓裔主導的倡導組織社區行動民權中心(MinKwon Center for Community Action)的這幾位只是一小部分。該組織也服務於皇后區法拉盛的華人羣體。

“We have to take baby steps when it comes to voicing our own opinions,” said James Jeong, 21, who moved to Flushing from South Korea when he was 3. “For Asians, it’s very stigmatized to speak out at these rallies.”

“在發出自己的聲音方面，我們必須一步步慢慢來，”現年21歲的詹姆斯·鄭(James Jeong)說。他在3歲的時候從韓國來到法拉盛。“對亞洲人來說，在這些集會活動上大聲講話是比較丟人的事。”

He added: “I feel like our biggest enemies are not the system itself, but our own communities that ostracize our own members — you kind of do your own thing, stay under the shadows.”

他還表示，“我感覺我們最大的敵人不是這個制度本身，而是我們的社區排斥自己的成員——有點各掃門前雪，不願多出頭的意思。”

Under the glaring noon sun in Foley Square on Friday, undocumented Hispanic families with small children in baby carriages joined union members with megaphones and longtime leaders from advocacy groups; many came in defiance of their lack of legal status.

週五的時候，在富利廣場刺眼的正午陽光下，無證件的西語裔家庭推着躺在嬰兒車裏的孩子，加入到攜帶擴音器的工會成員和倡導組織的長期領導者當中；有很多人不顧自己沒有合法身份的情況前來參加。

In New York City, more than 220,000 immigrants would have been eligible for temporary protection from deportation under the president’s executive actions, which included a protection for parents with children who are American citizens or permanent residents. According to the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, about 11 percent of those eligible were born in Korea or China.

在奧巴馬總統採取的行政措施下，紐約有超過22萬移民本可以獲得短暫的保護，免於被驅逐出境。其中一項保護措施針對的是子女爲美國公民或永久居民的移民。據紐約市長移民事務辦公室(Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs)統計，適用於這項保護的人約有11%出生在韓國或中國。

“That brings up the question, why aren’t they all here?” Mr. Jeong said.

“這就帶來一個問題，爲什麼他們不是都在這裏抗議？”鄭先生髮問。

For Korean parents, being undocumented was a mark of shame, Mr. Jeong and the fellow MinKwon members explained.

鄭先生和社區行動民權中心的其他成員解釋，對韓國父母來說，沒有身份是一個恥辱的標記。

“I grew up in that environment where you don’t tell other people your status, or something bad will happen to you,” Sangmin Na, 26, said.

“我就在那種環境里長大。你不會告訴別人你的身份，否則就會有不好的事發生，”現年26歲的羅尚民（Sangmin Na，音）說。

Mr. Na, a graduate of Hunter College, was a beneficiary of the 2012 program Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which protected certain undocumented children who were brought to the United States by their parents; it remained unaffected by the Supreme Court’s decision this week. Mr. Jeong was also covered by the deferred action program, enabling him to graduate from City College of New York and land an engineering job that starts next week.

羅先生畢業於亨特學院(Hunter College)，是2012年推出的“童年入境暫緩遣返程序”(Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals)的受益者。該項目保護幼年時期由父母帶來美國的某些沒有證件的移民；它不受最高法院本週裁決的影響。鄭先生也受惠於這個項目，由此得以從紐約城市大學(City College of New York)畢業，找到了一份工程類工作，下週即將入職。

They came to the rally to show solidarity.

爲了顯示團結一心，他們前來參加這場集會。

“It’s not just Latino struggles, it’s everybody’s struggles,” said Jung Rae Jang, 26, a community organizing fellow at MinKwon who came from South Korea at 15. One of the designated speakers at the rally, he urged his fellow immigrants to keep fighting for reform and to encourage others to vote.

“這不只是拉丁裔的鬥爭，是所有人的鬥爭，”民權中心的社區活動組織者張正來（Jung Rae Jang，音）說。他今年26歲，在15歲的時候從韓國來到美國。作爲這場集會活動的指定發言人之一，他呼籲同爲移民的人士繼續爲促成改革而鬥爭，呼籲他們鼓勵其他人爲之投票。

Mr. Jang said that he would like to organize more events in collaboration with the Hispanic community, but “language barriers are a problem,” he said.

張先生表示，他很願意與西語裔社區合作組織更多的活動，只是“語言障礙是一個問題，”他說。

But he also said that Asians did not seem to have been as affected by deportations as the Hispanic community, adding, “so it’s hard to relate in that aspect.”

但他也承認，亞裔受驅逐政策的影響似乎沒有西語裔那麼大，“因此難以在那方面建立關聯。”

Ester Rim, an intern at MinKwon, could, however, relate to the disappointment in the Supreme Court. Born in Brazil to Korean parents, she moved with her family to Queens when she was 4. Her parents, she said, would have been eligible to apply for administrative relief because her sister had become a permanent resident.

不過，民權中心的實習生埃斯特爾·林(Ester Rim)能體會最高法院的裁決帶來的失望之情。她出生於巴西，父母是韓裔，在4歲的時候隨他們移居到皇后區。她說父母原本有資格申請行政寬大，因爲她的妹妹已經成了美國永久居民。

Ms. Rim, attending Macaulay Honors College at the City University of New York on a scholarship, did not even tell her parents about the possibility that they could have qualified. “I can’t even imagine how much heartbreak they would’ve gone through,” she said.

林女士得到了紐約城市大學的麥考利榮譽學院(Macaulay Honors College)的獎學金，正在那裏就讀。她甚至都沒跟父母提及他們原本可能會有這種資格。“我無法想象他們會多麼傷心，”她說。

On Friday, the activists who came to the rally proclaimed that they would continue to work for immigration reform. “A people united will never be defeated,” they shouted in Spanish, followed by the chant “Sí se puede” — Yes we can.

週五當天，來到集會現場的活動人士宣佈，他們將繼續爲促成移民改革而努力。“團結起來的人永遠不會被擊敗，”他們用西班牙語大喊，場下緊接着發出“Sí se puede”的呼聲——是的，我們可以。

At the end, there was a spontaneous eruption of “Olé, olé, olé, olé!”

最後，現場同時爆發出“Olé, olé, olé, olé!”的歡呼聲。

Mr. Jang said at the last rally he tried to coin a Korean cheer, a clunky chant that translated to: “Immigration Reform! Pass It!”

張先生在上次集會上表示，他試圖發出一種複雜的韓式歡呼，翻譯過來就是：“移民改革！通過！”

“I couldn’t really say it,” Mr. Na said of the Korean words.

“我沒能真的喊出來，”羅先生這樣評價韓語口號。

“We just say ‘Olé,’ ” Namhee Kim, 20, said, laughing. “It’s the soccer cheer.”

“我們乾脆喊了‘Olé’，”20歲的金南熙（Namhee Kim，音）笑着說。“這是足球場上的歡呼聲。”