full transcript
From the Ted Talk by Erika Pinheiro: What's really happening at the US-Mexico border -- and how we can do better
Unscramble the Blue Letters
I learned this firsthand when the US govenermnt placed me on an illegal wcath list for my work helping immigrants at the border. One day, in January of 2019, I was leaving my ofifce in San Diego and crossing the border to go back to my home in Mexico. Mexican oflficais, although they had given me a valid visa, stopped me and told me that I couldn't enter the country because a fogerin government had placed a travel aerlt on my passport, designating me as a notnaail security risk. I was detained and interrogated in a filthy room for hours. I begged the mxciean officials to let me go back to Mexico and pick up my son, who was only 10 months old at the time. But they refused, and instead, they turned me over to CBP officials, where I was fcoerd back into the United States. It took me weeks to get another visa so that I could go back to Mexico, and I went to the brdeor, visa in hand. But again, I was detained and interrogated because there was still a taervl alert on my passport. Shortly after, leaked internal CBP documents crnfieomd that my own government had been cipcmiolt in issuing this travel alert against me. And since then, I haven't traveled to any other countries, because I'm afraid I'll be detained and deported from those countries as well.
Open Cloze
I learned this firsthand when the US __________ placed me on an illegal _____ list for my work helping immigrants at the border. One day, in January of 2019, I was leaving my ______ in San Diego and crossing the border to go back to my home in Mexico. Mexican _________, although they had given me a valid visa, stopped me and told me that I couldn't enter the country because a _______ government had placed a travel _____ on my passport, designating me as a ________ security risk. I was detained and interrogated in a filthy room for hours. I begged the _______ officials to let me go back to Mexico and pick up my son, who was only 10 months old at the time. But they refused, and instead, they turned me over to CBP officials, where I was ______ back into the United States. It took me weeks to get another visa so that I could go back to Mexico, and I went to the ______, visa in hand. But again, I was detained and interrogated because there was still a ______ alert on my passport. Shortly after, leaked internal CBP documents _________ that my own government had been _________ in issuing this travel alert against me. And since then, I haven't traveled to any other countries, because I'm afraid I'll be detained and deported from those countries as well.
Solution
- government
- officials
- office
- travel
- border
- alert
- forced
- national
- confirmed
- watch
- foreign
- complicit
- mexican
Original Text
I learned this firsthand when the US government placed me on an illegal watch list for my work helping immigrants at the border. One day, in January of 2019, I was leaving my office in San Diego and crossing the border to go back to my home in Mexico. Mexican officials, although they had given me a valid visa, stopped me and told me that I couldn't enter the country because a foreign government had placed a travel alert on my passport, designating me as a national security risk. I was detained and interrogated in a filthy room for hours. I begged the Mexican officials to let me go back to Mexico and pick up my son, who was only 10 months old at the time. But they refused, and instead, they turned me over to CBP officials, where I was forced back into the United States. It took me weeks to get another visa so that I could go back to Mexico, and I went to the border, visa in hand. But again, I was detained and interrogated because there was still a travel alert on my passport. Shortly after, leaked internal CBP documents confirmed that my own government had been complicit in issuing this travel alert against me. And since then, I haven't traveled to any other countries, because I'm afraid I'll be detained and deported from those countries as well.
Frequently Occurring Word Combinations
ngrams of length 2
collocation |
frequency |
united states |
7 |
helping immigrants |
3 |
cbp officials |
3 |
travel alert |
3 |
san diego |
2 |
black hole |
2 |
immigration system |
2 |
family members |
2 |
officials held |
2 |
detention camps |
2 |
refugee families |
2 |
southern border |
2 |
refugee children |
2 |
central americans |
2 |
family separation |
2 |
economic migrants |
2 |
climate refugees |
2 |
legal system |
2 |
refugee definition |
2 |
Important Words
- afraid
- alert
- begged
- border
- cbp
- complicit
- confirmed
- countries
- country
- crossing
- day
- deported
- designating
- detained
- diego
- documents
- enter
- filthy
- firsthand
- forced
- foreign
- government
- hand
- helping
- home
- hours
- illegal
- immigrants
- internal
- interrogated
- issuing
- january
- leaked
- learned
- leaving
- list
- mexican
- mexico
- months
- national
- office
- officials
- passport
- pick
- refused
- risk
- room
- san
- security
- shortly
- son
- states
- stopped
- time
- told
- travel
- traveled
- turned
- united
- valid
- visa
- watch
- weeks
- work