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Immigration
外來移民
Rolling out the welcome mat
熱烈歡迎
Two cities hope that embracing immigrants can reverse their decline
兩座城市希望，外來移民的到來能改善城市人口流失狀況
THREE years ago Jenny Salgado, a Dominican shop assistant, moved to Highlandtown, a neighbourhood of pleasant terraces and unpleasant derelict factories in Baltimore. She moved because the cost of living in New York was too high. When she arrived the shop she works in, stuffed with pi?atas and religious statuettes, was one of only a few Hispanic businesses. Now there are many more. “It's good now if you speak Spanish,” she smiles.
三年前，多米尼加商店助手珍妮·薩爾加多搬到海蘭鎮居住，毗鄰巴爾的摩。她搬家的原因是紐約高昂的生活費。珍妮初來乍到之際，這家兜售彩飾陶罐與宗教雕像的商店還算是當時少數幾家極具墨西哥風情的商店。而如今，這種商店不勝枚舉。她微笑著說，“如果你說西班牙語，那么這是件好事。”
Baltimore has been losing people for 60 years. To address this its mayor, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, wants to make it the most immigrant-friendly city in the world. Its libraries provide Spanish-language exercise classes. To help those with no papers, the city is introducing micro-loans which require no credit checks. In 2012 Ms Rawlings-Blake announced that city police would no longer routinely check the immigration status of citizens or enforce any federal immigration law unless explicitly required to. The then governor, Martin O'Malley, a Democrat, made it possible for illegal immigrants to get driving licences.
近60年來，巴爾的摩逐步喪失大量人口。該市市長Stephanie Rawlings-Blake欲使其成為全球最受外來移民歡迎的城市，希望以此來解決人口流失問題。該市正在引進小額貸款，無需信用檢查，此舉旨在幫助那些沒有任何身份證明的移民，而且圖書館現提供西班牙語練習課。2012年，Rawlings-Blake 女士宣布，市警察將不再定期檢查市民的移民情況，且只有在法律明確要求才會執行聯邦移民法律。時任州長民主黨議員馬丁·奧馬雷，讓非法移民獲得駕照變成可能。
Such welcoming policies are spreading. Rustbelt cities like Cleveland, Dayton and Philadelphia all avidly court immigrants. Rick Snyder, the Republican governor of Michigan, has asked the federal government to offer 50,000 visas to people who agree to live in Detroit. His administration has directed cash towards NGOs that market Motown to immigrants and made it easier for skilled migrants to get professional licences. Like Baltimore, Detroit woos refugees brought to America under federal programmes—and even tries to poach those who may have settled elsewhere.
像這樣的歡迎政策逐漸普及。克利夫蘭，代頓和費城等銹帶城市熱烈歡迎外來移民的到來。密歇根州長、共和黨議員瑞克·斯奈德已經向聯邦政府提出，簽發5萬份簽證給那些愿意住在底特律的人。斯奈德當局直接現金撥款給非政府組織，這些組織向移民推銷汽車之城底特律，讓技術移民更加容易獲得專業駕照。像巴爾的摩、底特律這樣的城市在聯邦項目下拉攏難民，群居美國，甚至討好那些想在別地安家的人。
A welcome mat is a powerful weapon against urban decay. When a city's population falls, tax receipts tumble and services atrophy. Half-deserted neighbourhoods breed crime, driving yet more people to leave. No city has escaped this death spiral without attracting new residents, says Steve Tobocman of Global Detroit, an NGO. Immigrants are especially likely to move into the most blighted neighbourhoods and spruce them up.
歡迎政策是對抗城市衰敗的有力武器。一座城市人口流失，稅收下滑、服務業萎縮。人口稀少的居民區滋生罪惡、頻發車禍，進而引發更大的人口流失。非政府組織“全球底特律”的斯蒂文·博客曼表示，若不吸引新的居民入住，那么沒有一座城市可以擺脫這“死亡漩渦”。外來移民尤其偏愛那些最破舊的社區，然后美化城市。
Several studies suggest that when immigrants arrive, crime goes down, schools improve and shops open up. In Detroit, immigrants living near the tiny separate city of Hamtramck have formed local watches to guard against thieves. Their neighbourhoods are not just safer; they are also among the only places where it is as easy to buy fresh vegetables as drugs and alcohol.
一些研究顯示，外來移民的到來使得犯罪事件減少，學校設備得到改進，商店得以重新開張。在底特律，外來移民住在狹小、偏僻的漢姆川客附近，已經形成了當地監察隊防范小偷。他們居住的社區不僅安全，而且成為少有的幾處能隨時購買新鮮蔬菜和藥物、酒精。
But attracting new immigrants to the cities which most need them is hard, argues Audrey Singer of the Brookings Institution, a think-tank. They care about the same things as everyone else: safe streets, good schools and jobs. Cities which have lost population for decades struggle with all of these. Detroit and Baltimore have not fared equally well. The number of immigrants in Baltimore, long stagnant, increased by 50% between 2000 and 2013, helping the city to record its first growth in population in decades. Detroit's immigrant population, by contrast, fell slightly, adding to its overall decline.
智庫布魯金斯研究所的安德魯·辛格辯解道，要想吸引外來移民去那些最需要他們的地方去絕非易事。他們所關心的事如普通人一樣：安全的街道、良好的學校、高報酬的工作。那些人口流失波動不大的城市，幾十年來均陷入這些煩惱中。底特律和巴爾的摩的遭遇并不樂觀。在巴爾的摩，外來移民數量長時間停滯，在2000年至2013年間增長了50%，該市因此創下幾十年人口增長新高。相比而言，底特律移民人口略微減少。
In Baltimore immigrants such as Ms Salgado are settling because they are drawn by cheap housing in a region that mostly lacks it. New arrivals from New York buy ruined houses and shops, typically paying $40,000 or $50,000 in cash. In places such as Highlandtown, which bustles with Ethiopian, Moroccan and Mexican restaurants, that has started a cycle of gentrification, as affluent young whites have been lured by the new urban vibe.
在巴爾的摩，像薩爾加多女士這樣的外來移民被低廉的房價所吸引，因而定居于此。從紐約來的新人們一般花4、5萬美元現金就可以買下廢棄的房屋和商店。在海蘭鎮這樣的地方，埃塞俄比亞、摩洛哥以及墨西哥餐館隨處可見，這不僅促成了下層住宅高檔化，富二代白人也因城市氛圍而聚于此地。
Detroit has not failed to attract new immigrants, says Mr Tobocman: Mexican restaurants and Bangladeshi mosques are proof of that. But it has struggled to retain them. “Yeah, you can buy a house for $20,000, but pretty quickly you realise that it's dangerous, the schools suck and all of the jobs are in the suburbs,” he says.
博客曼先生說，底特律成功吸引了新的外來移民：墨西哥餐館和孟加拉國的清真寺便是證據。但是他們卻勉強度日。他補充道，“是啊，你可以花2萬美金買到一棟房子，但是你很快就會意識到，這么做是危險的，學校很糟糕，這所有的工作都在郊區。”譯者：黃柳
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