Jawad Rahimi is a native of Afghanistan.
賈瓦德.拉希米是阿富汗人。
He arived in the United States 16 years ago after spending time as a refugee in Azerbaijan.
16年前，他在亞塞拜然度過了-段難民的生活後，來到了美國。
Since then, his store in St. Louis, Missouri has become a needed part of the city center.
從那時起，他在密蘇裡州聖路易斯經營的商店就成了市中心必不可少的一部分。
The area is full of empty homes and buildings.
這個地區到處都是空無一,人的房屋和建築物。
A usual day brings a continuous flow of people who come for alcohol, food or just to talk.
平日裡會有源源不斷的人來這裡喝酒、吃飯或只是聊天。
"I think they're addicted to me," he told the Reuters news agency.
「我想他們對我上癮了。」他告訴路透社。
He said people exchange friendly words with him as they buy their goods in his store.
他說人們在他店裡買東西時會和他友好地交談。
St.Louis and several other cities in Midwestern states have come to depend on people like Rahimi in urban areas.
聖路易斯和中西部幾個州的其他城市已經開始依賴像拉希米這樣的城市居民。
Between 2010 and 2018,the population of St.Louis shrank by 10,000 people.
2010年至2018年間，聖路易斯的人口減少了1萬人。
If it were not for 15,000 foreigners who arrived to live in the city, the decrease would likely have been greater.
如果不是有1.5萬名外國人來到這個城市生活，降幅可能會更大。
Reuters examined government data for that period.
路透社調查了這一時期的政府數據。
It found that immigration reversed what would have been major population decreases in 18 cities.
調查發現，移民扭轉了18個城市人口大幅減少的趨勢。
Among them are Detroit, Michigan;Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Akron, Ohio.
其中包括密西根州的底特律、威斯康星洲的密爾沃基和俄亥俄州的阿克隆。
Many are cities that have depended on manufacturing.
許多城市都依賴製造業。
In St.Louis and other places, immigrants are helping halt population decreases in urban areas.
在聖路易斯和其他地方，移民正在幫助阻止城市居民的減少。
The cities are struggling to maintain their population as people move to areas with higher economic growth.
隨著人們遷往經濟增長較快的地區，這些城市正在努力維持其人口數量。
To ffcials in St.Louis, this creates a problem.
對聖路易斯的官員來說，這帶來了-個問題。
Where do you find the people needed to buy homes, start businesses and keep the population from shrinking?
你在哪裡能找到買房、創業和防止人口減少所需的人？
Betsy Cohen is executive director of the St.Louis Mosaic Project.
貝特西.科恩是聖路易斯馬賽克項目的執行董事。
The group aims to make St.Louis's immigrant population the fastest growing inthe country
該組織旨在使聖路易斯的移民人口在這個國家增長最快。
"when those numbers fall, it is hard to have the growth...we want," said Cohen.
科恩表示:「當這些數字下降時，就很難實現....我們想要的增長。」
"Every person counts," she added, "All skill lines. All families. We need people."
「每個人都很重要，」她補充道，「所有的技能線。所有的家庭。我們需要人。」
The immigration debate nationally often brings attention to issues like border security and separation of families caught entering the country illegally.
全國範圍內的移民問題辯論往往會引起人對邊境女全、非法入境家庭隔離等問題的關注。
But cities like St.Louis are looking to immigration as a way to strengthen their economies.
但像聖路易斯這樣的城市正將移民視為增強經濟實力的一種途徑。
Recently, President Donald Trump gave state governors the power to reject refugees in their states.
最近，唐納德.川普總統授予各州州長拒絕接收難民的權力。.
Only the state of Texas chose to do so.
只有德克薩斯州選擇了這麼做。
The order is being disputed in courts, but state leaders of both political parties have said they still welcome refugees.
該命令在法庭上引起了爭議，但兩個政黨的州領導人都表示，他們仍然歡迎難民。
In a January letter to the State Department,Missouri Governor Mike Parson said the new arrivals would eventually become "patriotic and productive fellow Americans."
在一月份給國務院的信中，密蘇裡州州長邁克.帕森斯指出,這些新來的難民最終將成為「愛國和富有生產力的美國同胞」。
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Buffalo, New York and many other places, mainly in the Northeast and Midwest, have also come to pend on immigrants.
賓夕法尼亞州的匹茲堡;布法羅、紐約等主要位於東北.部和中西部的其他地方，也開始依賴移民。
Some economic experts worry about theeffects of population loss in some parts of the country.
一些經濟專家擔心該國部分地區人口減少帶來的影響。
Last year, economists Adam Ozimek,Kenan Fikri, and John Lettieri wrote a report for the Economic Innovation Group in WashingtonD.C.
去年，經濟學家亞當.奧濟梅克、凱南:菲克裡和約翰.萊蒂耶裡為華盛頓特區的經濟創新組織撰寫了一份報告。
The report found that smaller populations provide less money in taxes to local governments.
報告發現，人口越少，向地方政府提供的稅收就越少。
This, they found, leads to a decrease in public services and property values.
他們發現，這導致了公共服務和財產價值的下降。
So,fewer businesses start and existing ones have fewer reasons to stay.
因此，創業的企業越來越少，而現有的企業留下來的理由也越來越少。
The group argues that, while some parts of the country are losing people and others are gaining, immigration is controllable.
該組織認為，雖然美國的一些地區人口在流失，而另一些地區人口在增加，但移民是可控的，
The economists suggest that the United States could expand immigration like Australia and
Canada have.
經濟學家建議，美國可以像澳大利亞和加拿大那樣擴大移民。
They said the U.S. could do so by increasing the number of visas aimed at areas with
population problems.
他們說，美國可以通過增加針對有人口問題地區的籤證數量來實現這一點。
I'm Pete Musto.
皮特穆斯託報導。