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

  1. government
  2. officials
  3. office
  4. travel
  5. border
  6. alert
  7. forced
  8. national
  9. confirmed
  10. watch
  11. foreign
  12. complicit
  13. 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

  1. afraid
  2. alert
  3. begged
  4. border
  5. cbp
  6. complicit
  7. confirmed
  8. countries
  9. country
  10. crossing
  11. day
  12. deported
  13. designating
  14. detained
  15. diego
  16. documents
  17. enter
  18. filthy
  19. firsthand
  20. forced
  21. foreign
  22. government
  23. hand
  24. helping
  25. home
  26. hours
  27. illegal
  28. immigrants
  29. internal
  30. interrogated
  31. issuing
  32. january
  33. leaked
  34. learned
  35. leaving
  36. list
  37. mexican
  38. mexico
  39. months
  40. national
  41. office
  42. officials
  43. passport
  44. pick
  45. refused
  46. risk
  47. room
  48. san
  49. security
  50. shortly
  51. son
  52. states
  53. stopped
  54. time
  55. told
  56. travel
  57. traveled
  58. turned
  59. united
  60. valid
  61. visa
  62. watch
  63. weeks
  64. work