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Immigration
外来移民
Rolling out the welcome mat
热烈欢迎
Two cities hope that embracing immigrants can reverse their decline
两座城市希望，外来移民的到来能改善城市人口流失状况
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·萨尔加多搬到海兰镇居住，毗邻巴尔的摩。她搬家的原因是纽约高昂的生活费。珍妮初来乍到之际，这家兜售彩饰陶罐与宗教雕像的商店还算是当时少数几家极具墨西哥风情的商店。而如今，这种商店不胜枚举。她微笑着说，“如果你说西班牙语，那么这是件好事。”
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年来，巴尔的摩逐步丧失大量人口。该市市长Stephanie Rawlings-Blake欲使其成为全球最受外来移民欢迎的城市，希望以此来解决人口流失问题。该市正在引进小额贷款，无需信用检查，此举旨在帮助那些没有任何身份证明的移民，而且图书馆现提供西班牙语练习课。2012年，Rawlings-Blake 女士宣布，市警察将不再定期检查市民的移民情况，且只有在法律明确要求才会执行联邦移民法律。时任州长民主党议员马丁·奥马雷，让非法移民获得驾照变成可能。
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.
像这样的欢迎政策逐渐普及。克利夫兰，代顿和费城等锈带城市热烈欢迎外来移民的到来。密歇根州长、共和党议员瑞克·斯奈德已经向联邦政府提出，签发5万份签证给那些愿意住在底特律的人。斯奈德当局直接现金拨款给非政府组织，这些组织向移民推销汽车之城底特律，让技术移民更加容易获得专业驾照。像巴尔的摩、底特律这样的城市在联邦项目下拉拢难民，群居美国，甚至讨好那些想在别地安家的人。
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.
欢迎政策是对抗城市衰败的有力武器。一座城市人口流失，税收下滑、服务业萎缩。人口稀少的居民区滋生罪恶、频发车祸，进而引发更大的人口流失。非政府组织“全球底特律”的斯蒂文·博客曼表示，若不吸引新的居民入住，那么没有一座城市可以摆脱这“死亡漩涡”。外来移民尤其偏爱那些最破旧的社区，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.
一些研究显示，外来移民的到来使得犯罪事件减少，学校设备得到改进，商店得以重新开张。在底特律，外来移民住在狭小、偏僻的汉姆川客附近，已经形成了当地监察队防范小偷。他们居住的社区不仅安全，而且成为少有的几处能随时购买新鲜蔬菜和药物、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.
智库布鲁金斯研究所的安德鲁·辛格辩解道，要想吸引外来移民去那些最需要他们的地方去绝非易事。他们所关心的事如普通人一样：安全的街道、良好的学校、高报酬的工作。那些人口流失波动不大的城市，几十年来均陷入这些烦恼中。底特律和巴尔的摩的遭遇并不乐观。在巴尔的摩，外来移民数量长时间停滞，在2000年至2013年间增长了50%，该市因此创下几十年人口增长新高。相比而言，底特律移民人口略微减少。
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.
在巴尔的摩，像萨尔加多女士这样的外来移民被低廉的房价所吸引，因而定居于此。从纽约来的新人们一般花4、5万美元现金就可以买下废弃的房屋和商店。在海兰镇这样的地方，埃塞俄比亚、摩洛哥以及墨西哥餐馆随处可见，这不仅促成了下层住宅高档化，富二代白人也因城市氛围而聚于此地。
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.
博客曼先生说，底特律成功吸引了新的外来移民：墨西哥餐馆和孟加拉国的清真寺便是证据。但是他们却勉强度日。他补充道，“是啊，你可以花2万美金买到一栋房子，但是你很快就会意识到，这么做是危险的，学校很糟糕，这所有的工作都在郊区。”译者：黄柳
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