DHS Is Hiring Bounty Hunters to Find and Photograph Deported People’s Homes Abroad
DHS Is Hiring Bounty Hunters to Find and Photograph Deported People’s Homes Abroad
美国国土安全部正雇佣“赏金猎人”在海外搜寻并拍摄被驱逐者的住所
US Customs and Border Protection is seeking to hire private investigators to track down deported immigrants and others who have left the United States, and press them into paying the government money, according to records reviewed by WIRED. The work would cover Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala, and potentially other countries. 根据《连线》（WIRED）查阅的文件显示，美国海关和边境保护局（CBP）正寻求雇佣私家侦探，以追踪那些被驱逐出境或已离开美国的移民，并向他们追缴政府罚款。这项工作将覆盖墨西哥、洪都拉斯、危地马拉，并可能扩展至其他国家。
The documents, which cap the so-called Tracing and Payment Recovery Services program at $9 million over the next two years, call for “commercial data verification and physical observation services” to confirm where each person lives. They list photographs of the home as acceptable evidence, along with records such as utility bills, employment files, court documents, or, if the person has died, a death certificate. 这些文件将所谓的“追踪与付款追回服务”项目在未来两年的预算上限设定为900万美元，要求提供“商业数据核实和实地观察服务”以确认每个人的居住地。文件将住所照片列为可接受的证据，其他证据还包括水电费账单、就业档案、法庭文件，或者如果当事人已去世，则需提供死亡证明。
The US government will also accept other documentation, so long as it deems it “relevant and credible.” Contractors are also required to deliver a printed flyer, approved by the US government and printed in English and Spanish, listing outstanding fines and fees CBP claims they owe. 美国政府也将接受其他文件，只要其被认为“相关且可信”。承包商还被要求递送一份经美国政府批准、以英语和西班牙语印制的传单，列出CBP声称他们所欠的未缴罚款和费用。
As of July, the Department of Homeland Security, CBP’s parent agency, says it has issued more than $84 billion in fines to immigrants it has accused of failing to depart the United States, citing an obscure provision of a 1996 immigration law that sat unused until Donald Trump’s first term. Those fines run against people who are still in the country, at $998 a day for up to five years. Some have reached up to $1.8 million. 截至7月，CBP的上级机构国土安全部（DHS）表示，已向被指控未按时离境的移民开出了超过840亿美元的罚单。该罚款依据的是1996年移民法中一项鲜为人知的条款，该条款在唐纳德·特朗普第一任期前一直处于闲置状态。这些罚款针对的是仍在美国境内的人，每天罚款998美元，最长可达五年。部分罚款金额已高达180万美元。
Hasan Shafiqullah, the Legal Aid Society’s immigration supervising attorney, says he’s seen some third-party collection agencies add $500,000 in additional administrative fees on top of the US government’s fees. 法律援助协会（Legal Aid Society）的移民监督律师哈桑·沙菲库拉（Hasan Shafiqullah）表示，他曾看到一些第三方催收机构在政府罚款的基础上，额外增加了50万美元的管理费。
Legal experts say that the fine notices evade due process and are meant to intimidate people into self-deporting. A recent report from the New York University School of Law’s Immigrant Rights Clinic found that immigrants accused of failing to depart have had their tax returns seized, their wages garnished, and their credit scores ruined after receiving fine notices. 法律专家指出，这些罚款通知规避了正当程序，旨在通过恐吓手段迫使人们“自愿离境”。纽约大学法学院移民权利诊所最近的一份报告发现，被指控未离境的移民在收到罚款通知后，出现了退税被扣押、工资被扣缴以及信用评分受损的情况。
DHS promises that it will forgive failure-to-depart fines if people self-deport using the CBP Home app. The waiver does not include a separate $5,130 fee Congress created last year for people ordered removed in absentia and later arrested by ICE, which the statute bars from waiving or reducing. Someone who left through the app on the promise of a clean slate could still carry that balance. 国土安全部承诺，如果人们使用“CBP Home”应用程序自愿离境，将免除其未离境罚款。但该豁免不包括国会去年为缺席判决驱逐后又被移民及海关执法局（ICE）逮捕的人员所设立的5130美元费用，法律禁止豁免或减少这笔费用。因此，即便有人通过该应用程序离境并被承诺“一笔勾销”，仍可能背负这笔债务。
Alina Das, a law professor and director of NYU’s Immigrant Rights Clinic, says going after people who have left the country with outstanding fines would be a “significant escalation in tactics.” 纽约大学法学院教授兼移民权利诊所主任阿丽娜·达斯（Alina Das）表示，追缴已离境人员的未付罚款将是“策略上的重大升级”。
Charles Moore, a senior attorney at Public Justice, says that the move is “part and parcel” with the Trump administration’s harsh anti-immigration efforts and that it is likely meant to deter people in the countries targeted from wanting to come to the US in the future. “公共正义”（Public Justice）组织的高级律师查尔斯·摩尔（Charles Moore）认为，此举是特朗普政府严厉反移民政策的“重要组成部分”，其目的很可能是为了威慑目标国家的民众，使他们未来不敢再前往美国。
The three debt collection agencies CBP already uses have tried to reach people overseas by letter and phone. As of July, according to the documents, they had not located a single person outside the US. At that time, they say, the government had removed an estimated 66,387 people carrying unpaid CBP fines and penalties. CBP目前使用的三家债务催收机构已尝试通过信件和电话联系海外人员。根据文件，截至7月，他们尚未在美国境外找到任何一个人。当时，政府估计已有66,387名背负CBP未缴罚款的人员被驱逐出境。
CBP referred WIRED’s questions to DHS, which did not provide a comment before publication. Mexico’s foreign ministry, Guatemala’s ministry of foreign affairs, and Honduras’s secretariat of foreign affairs did not respond to questions about whether the United States had consulted them or whether they would cooperate with the contractors. CBP将《连线》的提问转交给了国土安全部，后者在截稿前未予置评。墨西哥外交部、危地马拉外交部以及洪都拉斯外交秘书处均未回应关于美国是否曾咨询过他们，或他们是否会与这些承包商合作的问题。
“It makes no sense to go after people here if they don’t have the money,” says Shafiqullah, who is suing the federal government over the fines. “Presumably they don’t have the money there, and they’re not subject to collections. What’s the point of this?” “如果这些人没钱，追缴他们毫无意义，”正在就罚款问题起诉联邦政府的沙菲库拉说，“可以推测他们在当地也没有钱，而且他们也不受（美国）催收法律的管辖。这样做到底有什么意义？”
Senators Dick Durbin and Alex Padilla wrote to acting attorney general Todd Blanche and Homeland Security secretary Markwayne Mullin in July, asking them to stop applying the fines to immigrants who are complying with the law. They asked how many penalties had gone to people with pending or lawful status, or to survivors of domestic violence and trafficking, and how many had been referred to private debt collectors. They asked for answers by July 31. Durbin’s office tells WIRED neither department responded. 参议员迪克·德宾（Dick Durbin）和亚历克斯·帕迪拉（Alex Padilla）在7月致信代理司法部长托德·布兰奇（Todd Blanche）和国土安全部长马克韦恩·穆林（Markwayne Mullin），要求他们停止对遵守法律的移民实施罚款。他们询问了有多少罚款是针对身份待定或合法身份的人，以及针对家庭暴力和人口贩运受害者，并询问了有多少案件被移交给私人催收机构。他们要求在7月31日前得到答复。德宾的办公室告诉《连线》，两个部门均未回应。
“Since day one, the Trump administration has carried out a vindictive mass deportation campaign, which has included slapping arbitrary and potentially unlawful $1.8 million fines on Dreamers, survivors of domestic violence, and green card applicants,” Durbin says. “And now—after decrying ‘government waste’ and slashing essential health care programs—the Trump Administration is burning taxpayer dollars to chase down immigrants who followed their directives to leave the country.” “从第一天起，特朗普政府就开展了一场报复性的大规模驱逐行动，包括对‘追梦人’（Dreamers）、家庭暴力受害者和绿卡申请人处以随意且可能违法的180万美元罚款，”德宾说，“现在，在谴责‘政府浪费’并削减基本医疗保健项目之后，特朗普政府却在挥霍纳税人的钱，去追捕那些按照他们指令离开国家的移民。”
Contractors hired under the Tracing and Payment Recovery Services program would be paid a set fee for each person they document notifying, with tiered bonuses if they report back within seven, 14, or 28 days of CBP handing over the person’s information. No part of the payment depends on money being recovered. The government would own all data the investigators gather, with unlimited rights to reuse it and build on it. 根据“追踪与付款追回服务”项目雇佣的承包商，每记录通知一人即可获得固定费用，如果在CBP移交信息后的7天、14天或28天内反馈，还可获得分级奖金。报酬与是否追回资金无关。政府将拥有调查人员收集的所有数据，并拥有无限的重复使用和开发权利。
The only payment method presented is the federal website Pay.gov, which the documents note requires a US bank account. If civil penalties are collected under the program, they would be deposited into the Immigration Enforcement Account, a fund Congress created to pay for identifying, apprehending, detaining, and removing immigrants. 目前提供的唯一支付方式是联邦网站Pay.gov，文件指出该网站需要美国银行账户。如果该项目收缴了民事罚款，这些资金将存入“移民执法账户”，这是国会设立的一个基金，用于支付识别、逮捕、拘留和驱逐移民的费用。
Many people who have been hit with fine notices are from mixed-status families, according to the NYU report. CBP appears to anticipate this, saying payments “may be made by the individual or another party.” Family members still in the US could feel pressured to pay up, even if the person who received the notice has left the country. 根据纽约大学的报告，许多收到罚款通知的人来自混合身份家庭。CBP似乎预料到了这一点，称付款“可由个人或其他方支付”。即便收到通知的人已经离开美国，仍在美国境内的家庭成员也可能感到必须支付罚款的压力。
The documents say contractors would use commercial data, but not where that data would [be sourced]. 文件称承包商将使用商业数据，但未说明这些数据的来源。