[(Title)] U.S. is denying passports to Americans along the border, throwing their citizenship into question.

Two women, Maria and Lupita, whose U.S. citizenship is in question, stand for a portrait in Brownsville, Texas, in August 2018.

2018年8月，在得克萨斯州布朗维尔，两名妇女玛丽亚和Lupita的美国公民身份受到质疑。

Although they were born in the United States, the government is questioning their citizenship because it suspects their birth certificates are fraudulent, even though they were issued by the state of Texas decades ago.

尽管他们出生在美国境内，但政府正在质疑他们的公民身份，因为政府怀疑他们的出生证是伪造的，即使他们的出生证是几十年前由得克萨斯州签发的。

On paper, he's a devoted U.S. citizen.

从理论上讲，他是美国忠实的公民。

His official American birth certificate shows he was delivered by a midwife in Brownsville, at the southern tip of Texas.

他的美国官方出生证显示，他是由得克萨斯州南部布朗斯维尔的一名助产士接生的。他终身穿着美国军装：在陆军当了三年的二等兵，在边境巡逻队做军校学员，现在当国家监狱警卫。

He spent his life wearing American uniforms: three years as a private in the Army, then as a cadet in the Border Patrol and now as a state prison guard.

But when Juan, 40, applied to renew his U.S. passport this year, the government's response floored him. In a letter, the State Department said it didn't believe he was an American citizen.

但当40岁的他今年申请续签美国护照时，政府的答复使他失望了。在一封信中，国务院表示不相信他是美国公民。

As he would later learn, Juan is one of a growing number of people whose official birth records show they were born in the United States but who are now being denied passports — their citizenship suddenly thrown into question.

正如他后来所知道的，与他遭遇相同的人也来越多，他们的官方出生记录显示他们出生在美国，但目前却被拒绝发放护照——他们的公民身份突然受到质疑。

The Trump administration is accusing hundreds, and possibly thousands, of Hispanics along the border of using fraudulent birth certificates since they were babies, and it is undertaking a widespread crackdown on their citizenship.

特朗普政府指控边境沿线数百名甚至数千名西班牙裔使用伪造的出生证明，并且正在对他们的公民身份进行广泛的镇压。

In a statement, the State Department said that it "has not changed policy or practice regarding the adjudication of passport applications,

美国国务院在一份声明中表示，它"没有改变关于裁定护照申请的政策或做法，

" adding that "the U.S.-Mexico border region happens to be an area of the country where there has been a significant incidence of citizenship fraud."

他补充道，“美国和墨西哥边境地区恰好是该国公民欺诈事件发生率较高的地区。"

But cases identified by The Washington Post and interviews with immigration attorneys suggest a dramatic shift in both passport issuance and immigration enforcement.

但《华盛顿邮报》查明的案件和与移民律师的访谈表明，护照签发和移民执法都发生了重大变化。

In some cases, passport applicants with official U.S. birth certificates are being jailed in immigration detention centers and entered into deportation proceedings.

一些持有美国官方出生证明的护照申请人被关押在移民拘留中心，并进入驱逐程序。另外一些人在试图重新进入美国时，护照突然被吊销。

In others, they are stuck in Mexico, their passports suddenly revoked when they tried to re-enter the United States.

As the Trump administration attempts to reduce both legal and illegal immigration, the government's treatment of passport applicants in south Texas shows how U.S. citizens are increasingly being swept up by immigration enforcement agencies.

随着特朗普政府试图减少合法和非法移民，政府对南得克萨斯州护照申请人的待遇表明，美国公民正越来越多地受到移民执法机构的扫荡。

Juan said he was infuriated by the government's response. "I served my country. I fought for my country," he said, speaking on the condition that his last name not be used so that he wouldn't be targeted by immigration enforcement.

胡安说他被政府的回应激怒了，“我为我国服务，我为我国而战，”他说道，条件是不能使用他的姓，以免成为移民执法人员的目标。

The government alleges that from the 1950s through the 1990s, some midwives and physicians along the Texas-Mexico border provided U.S. birth certificates to babies who were actually born in Mexico.

政府称，从1950年代到1990年代，得克萨斯-墨西哥边境的一些助产士和医生向实际出生在墨西哥的婴儿提供了美国的出生证。

In a series of federal court cases in the 1990s, several birth attendants admitted to providing fraudulent documents.

在1990年代的一系列联邦法院案件中，几名助产士承认提供伪造证件。

Based on those suspicions, the State Department began during Barack Obama's administration to deny passports to people who were delivered by midwives in Texas's Rio Grande Valley.

基于这些怀疑，美国国务院在奥巴马政府执政期间开始拒绝向得克萨斯州里奥格朗德河谷的助产士发放护照。

The use of midwives is a long-standing tradition in the region, in part because of the cost of hospital care.

使用助产士是该区域长期存在的传统，部分原因是医院护理的费用。

The same midwives who provided fraudulent birth certificates also delivered thousands of babies legally in the United States.

在美国，提供虚假出生证明的助产士也合法接生了成千上万的婴儿。

It has proved nearly impossible to distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate documents, all of them officially issued by the state of Texas decades ago.

事实证明，几乎无法区分合法和非法证件，所有这些证件都是由得克萨斯州几十年前正式签发的。

Their shoes still muddy from crossing the border, the father and son had just been apprehended at a canal near a border fence in Arizona on a muggy night in July. Before...

他们的鞋子在越过边境时仍沾满泥浆，父亲和儿子在七月的一个闷热之夜在亚利桑那州边境围栏附近的一条运河被捕。

A 2009 government settlement in a case litigated by the American Civil Liberties Union seemed like it had mostly put an end to the passport denials.

2009年，美国公民自由联盟提起的诉讼案中，政府达成了一项解决办法，似乎基本上终止了对护照的拒绝。

Attorneys reported that the number of denials declined during the rest of the Obama administration, and the government settled promptly when people filed complaints after being denied passports.

律师报告说，在奥巴马其他行政部门期间，拒绝的数量有所下降，当有人在护照被拒绝后提出申诉时，政府立即予以解决。

But under President Donald Trump, the passport denials and revocations appear to be surging, becoming part of a broader interrogation into the citizenship of people who have lived, voted and worked in the United States for their entire lives.

但在美国总统唐纳德.特朗普的领导下，拒绝护照和吊销护照的情况似乎正在激增，成为对美国终身生活、投票和工作者的公民身份更广泛的审讯的一部分。

"We're seeing these kind of cases skyrocketing," said Jennifer Correro, an attorney in Houston who is defending dozens of people who have been denied passports.

休斯顿的律师珍妮弗·科雷罗说:“我们看到这类案件飞速发展。”她为几十名被拒绝护照的人辩护。

In its statement, the State Department said that applicants "who have birth certificates filed by a midwife or other birth attendant suspected of having engaged in fraudulent activities,

国务院在声明中称，申请人“持有助产士或其他助产士提交的出生证明，涉嫌从事欺诈活动，以及同时拥有美国和外国出生证明的申请人，被要求提供证明他们在美国出生的额外文件。"

as well as applicants who have both a U.S. and foreign birth certificate, are asked to provide additional documentation establishing they were born in the United States."

"Individuals who are unable to demonstrate that they were born in the United States are denied issuance of a passport," the statement said.

声明称:“无法证明自己出生在美国的个人将被拒绝发放护照。”

He managed to find some of those documents but weeks later received another denial. In a letter, the government said the information "did not establish your birth in the United States."

他设法找到了其中的一些文件，但几周后又遭到拒绝。在一封信中，政府说，这些信息“没有证明你在美国出生”。

"I thought to myself, you know, I'm going to have to seek legal help," said Juan, who earns $13 an hour as a prison guard and expects to pay several thousand dollars in legal fees.

“我心想，你知道，我将不得不寻求法律帮助，”胡安说，他作为狱警每小时挣13美元，预计要支付几千美元的律师费。

This midwife said she provided several fraudulent birth certificates along the Texas-Mexico border. She helped deliver about 600 babies in the United States.

这名助产士说，她在得克萨斯州和墨西哥边境提供了几份伪造出生证，她在美国帮助分娩了大约600名婴儿。

In a case last August, a 35-year-old Texas man with a U.S. passport was interrogated while crossing back into Texas from Mexico with his son at the McAllen-Hidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge, connecting Reynosa, Mexico, to McAllen, Texas.

去年8月，一名持有美国护照的35岁德克萨斯男子在将墨西哥雷诺萨与德州麦肯伦-伊达尔戈-雷诺萨国际大桥连接至麦卡伦(McAllen-Hidalgo-Reynosa)时与儿子从墨西哥返回得克萨斯州时受到审讯。

His passport was taken from him, and Customs and Border Protection agents told him to admit that he was born in Mexico, according to documents later filed in federal court.

他的护照被从他手上拿走，海关和边境保护局人员告诉他，根据联邦法院后来提交的文件，他出生在墨西哥。

He refused and was sent to the Los Fresnos Detention Center and entered into deportation proceedings.

他遭到拒绝，并被送往LosFresnos拘留中心，进入驱逐程序。

He was released three days later, but the government scheduled a deportation hearing for him in 2019. His passport, which had been issued in 2008, was revoked.

3天后，他被释放，但政府计划在2019年对他进行驱逐听证，2008年签发的护照被吊销。

The State Department says that even though it may deny someone a passport, that does not necessarily mean that the individual will be deported. But it leaves them in a legal limbo,

美国国务院表示，即使它可能拒绝某人护照，但这并不一定意味着此人将被驱逐出境，但这使他们处于身份混沌之中。

with one arm of the U.S. government claiming they are not Americans and the prospect that immigration agents could follow up on their case.

美国政府的一个部门声称他们不是美国人，而且移民官员有可能跟进他们的案子。很难知道特朗普政府对合法和非法移民的更广泛的攻击中，镇压在哪里。

It's difficult to know where the crackdown fits into the Trump administration's broader assaults on legal and illegal immigration.

Now, the administration appears to be taking aim at a broad group of Americans along the stretch of the border where Trump has promised to build his wall, where he directed the deployment of national guardsmen,

现在，政府似乎正在瞄准边境沿线的一大群美国人，特朗普承诺在那里修建隔离墙，并在那里指挥国民警卫队的部署，

and where the majority of cases in which children were separated from their parents during the administration's "zero tolerance" policy occurred.

在政府的“零容忍”政策期间，大多数儿童与父母分离的案例都发生在那里。

The State Department would not say how many passports it has denied to people along the border because of concerns about fraudulent birth certificates. The government has also refused to provide a list of midwives who it considers to be suspicious.

国务院不会透露因担心伪造出生证明而拒绝给边境沿线的人多少护照。政府也拒绝提供它认为可疑的助产士名单。

Lawyers along the border say that it isn't just those delivered by midwives who are being denied.

边境沿线的律师说，被拒绝的不仅仅是助产士接生的人。

Babies delivered by Jorge Treviño, one of the region's most well-known gynecologists, are also being denied. When he died in 2015, the McAllen Monitor wrote in his obituary that Treviño had delivered 15,000 babies.

该地区最著名的妇科医生JorgeTreviño接生的婴儿也被剥夺，当他于2015年去世时，McAllenMonitor在biote中写道，Trevi&ntilde；o接生了15,000名婴儿。

President Donald Trump on Tuesday revived his threat of a government shutdown over the issues of immigration and border security,

唐纳德.特朗普(DonaldTrump)周二再次威胁要政府关门解决移民和边境安全问题。

creating yet another headache for Republican leaders on Capitol Hill who have been marching forward with plans to avert a funding crisis before the November midterms.

在国会山，共和党领导人正在推动计划，以便在十一月中期前避免资金危机，这又给共和党领导人制造了另一种头痛。

It's unclear why babies delivered by Treviño are being targeted, and the State Department did not comment on individual birth attendants.

特雷维·特尼尔·奥接生的婴儿成为目标不明确，国务院没有就个别接生员发表评论。

Diez, the attorney, said the government has an affidavit from an unnamed Mexican doctor who said that Treviño's office provided at least one fraudulent birth certificate for a child born in Mexico.

律师Diez说，政府有一份匿名墨西哥医生的书面证词，他说Trevi&ntilde；o的办事处为出生在墨西哥的孩子至少提供了一份伪造的出生证。

One of the midwives who was accused of providing fraudulent birth certificates in the 1990s admitted in an interview that in two cases, she accepted money to provide fake documents.

一名助产士被控在1990年代提供伪造出生证，在接受采访时承认，在两起案件中，她接受钱提供假证件。

She said she helped deliver 600 babies in south Texas, many of them now being denied passports. Those birth certificates were issued by the state of Texas, with the midwife's name listed under "birth attendant."

她说，她在得克萨斯州南部帮助接生了600个婴儿，其中许多婴儿现在被拒发护照，这些出生证是由得克萨斯州签发的，上面列有"助产士"的名单。

"I know that they are suffering now, but it's out of my control," she said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of her admission.

“我知道他们现在正在受苦，但这超出了我的控制范围，”她说，由于她承认的敏感性，她要求匿名。

For those who have received passport denials from the government, it affects not only their travel plans but their sense of identity as Americans.

对于那些被政府拒绝护照的人来说，这不仅影响他们的旅行计划，而且影响他们作为美国人的身份意识。

One woman who has been denied, named Betty, said she had tried to get a passport to visit her grandfather as he was dying in Mexico.

一位名叫贝蒂的女士说，当她在墨西哥去世时，她曾试图获得一本护照去探望她的祖父。

She went to a passport office in Houston, where government officials denied her request and questioned whether she had been born in the United States.

她去了休斯顿的护照办公室，在那里政府官员拒绝了她的要求，并询问她是否出生在美国。

"You're getting questioned on something so fundamentally you," said Betty, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity because of concerns about immigration enforcement.

贝蒂说:“从根本上来说，你被问到了一些问题。”由于担心移民执法，她还要求匿名。

The denials are happening at a time when Trump has been lobbying for stricter federal voter identification rules, which would presumably affect the same people who are now being denied passports — almost all of them Hispanic,

这一否认发生在特朗普一直在游说要求制定更严格的联邦选民身份识别规则的时候，这可能会影响那些目前被拒绝护照的人们——几乎所有人都是西班牙人，

For now, passport applicants who are able to afford the legal costs are suing the federal government over their passport denials.

目前，有能力支付法律费用的护照申请人正在以拒绝护照为由向联邦政府提起诉讼。

Eventually, the applicants typically win those cases, after government attorneys raise a series of sometimes bizarre questions about their birth.

最后，在政府的律师提出关于其出生问题的一系列有时很奇怪的问题之后，申请人通常会赢得这些案件。