Historic Events

The Migrant
Children Crisis
Pre-Reading

A. Warm-Up Questions

1. What is the difference between

a “migrant” and an “immigrant”?

2. What reasons do families have

for fleeing their homelands?

3. In what situations should illegal immigrants

be deported to their home countries?
Should children ever face deportation?

B. Vocabulary Preview

Match up as many words and meanings as you can.

Check this exercise again after seeing the words in context on page 2.

1. seek asylum multitude j)  region or country to send

alone (e.g., without a parent
2. in tow or guardian) someone back to their home

3. arduous to try to sneak something or or legal country a policy that

4. zero tolerance prosecution does not allow for any
someone into an area
5.
smuggle illegally requiring great effort exceptions
6.
unaccompanied legal action taken against without the required legal
7. paperwork
undocumented deport someone who committed a
8. many different things or
a)  b)  c)  d)  e)  f)  crime to search for safety types
9.
g)  h)  i)  and freedom in another accompanied by another
10. person(s) or heavy thing(s)
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Reading Since children cannot be prosecuted in the US, they were

placed in temporary shelters and detention centres while
their parents awaited charges. The new policy created
1. Every year, millions of people seek asylum in hopes of
overcrowding in the holding areas and included no plans
finding a safer or better life. Desperate families often
for the reunification of families. One large facility in Texas
cross borders illegally to
housing 1,500 unaccompanied minors was a former
The Migrant Children Crisis Historic Events Walmart store.
4. The UN’s top human rights official called the new US
policy “government-sanctioned child abuse.” Many
psychologists and doctors agreed with the UN that

“Once the parent breaking up migrant families was a serious violation of

children’s rights. Research shows that separating children
and  child are apart, from parents often results in toxic stress, which can cause
escape poverty, disease, war, and a multitude of other many health problems including long-term effects on
hardships. The journey for most migrants is long and children’s developing brains.
dangerous. With children in tow it is even more arduous,
5. On June 20, 2018, President Trump caved to pressure
and for many migrant families, the threat of
and signed an executive order allowing migrant families
being separated from each other is their greatest fear.
to stay together while awaiting prosecution. This reversal
2. In the spring of 2018, this nightmare became a reality introduced new problems since children can only be kept
for many families trying to cross into the United States. in detention for 20 days in the US.
That’s when President Trump’s zero tolerance of illegal
6. In countries with strict immigration laws,
migration went into effect. Under his new policy, illegal
undocumented children often live in constant fear of
migrants would be immediately detained for
their parents being deported. In some cases, parents are
prosecution. Attorney General Jeff Sessions warned: “If
deported without their children. Immigration workers and
you are smuggling a child, then we will prosecute you,
lawyers agree that reuniting families becomes much more
and that child may be separated from you as required by
difficult when parents and children no longer share the
law.” When a nursing baby was taken from her Honduran
same soil.
mother by US border agents, the unfolding crisis became
headline news. they are on separate legal
3. Approximately 2,500 migrant children were separated
tracks.”
from their parents at the southern US border in the first—John Sandweg, former director of US Immigration and
six weeks following the attorney general’s announcement. Customs Enforcement (ICE)
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The Migrant Children Crisis

Historic Events

Comprehension
Discuss these questions in pairs and write the answers in your notebook.

1. What is the reading mainly about?

2. Paraphrase the attorney general’s warning.

3. Why does the reading mention Walmart?

4. Where would the following sentence fit in the reading?

Though this facility was reportedly clean

and functional, many others have been
described as prison-like cages.
5. Why were medical professionals so concerned
about America’s immigration policy change?

Vocabulary Review
A. Complete the Sentences

Choose a word from the vocabulary on page 1 to complete the following

sentences. You may have to change the word form.

1.                   children are not permitted in the water park.

2.                   immigrants are not allowed to vote.

3.                   drugs across the border is just one of a multitude of her crimes.

4. The distraught mother was                   back to Mexico without her children.

5. Reuniting families without any paperwork is an                   task.

6. Repeat offenders are more likely to face                  

 than those who have only tried to illegally cross the border once.

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Vocabulary Review cont. The Migrant Children Crisis

Historic
Events
B. Matching

Match the sentences on the left with the paraphrased version on the right.

1. This story is just unfolding. again soon. This is breaking news.

My mom had three young kids in tow.
5. We’ll know more soon. There are no
2. The president tried to uphold the
exceptions for this infraction.
We’ll soon share the same soil once policy, but he caved under pressure.
again. a)  b)  c)  d)  He couldn’t handle the bad press

3. anymore, so he reversed his decision.

There is zero tolerance for drug abuse. e)  We were a lot of work and
We will be living in the same country responsibility for one person.
4.

Paraphrasing middle.

When you paraphrase, you use your own words

A. Reference to rephrase the original thought or information. You also
give credit where credit is due.
In writing, paraphrasing means rewording an excerpt
(a block of text). Paraphrasing is closely related to quoting
and summarizing. B. Practice

At the height of the crisis, former First Lady Laura Bush

A summary is an overview of a main idea.
wrote a critique of President Trump’s policy. She
A quote is the exact wording of the original text in
compared the separation of migrant families at the
quotation marks. A paraphrase is somewhere in the
southern border to the Japanese American internment
camps of World War II. Read Laura Bush’s opinion piece
(op-ed) from The  Washington Post. Paraphrase one
paragraph in writing.

3 Keys to
Paraphrasing
1. Rephrase the excerpt
or information in your
own words with a new
structure and style.

2. Use quotation marks

around any unique
phrasing copied directly
from an original source.

3. Credit the original

source (unless it’s
based on very
common knowledge).
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Migration Terminology The Migrant Children Crisis

Historic
Events
A. Reference

Word Meaning

migrant A migrant is a person who leaves his or her homeland in search of a

better or safer place to live. This often includes crossing international
borders. A migrant who is not legally allowed to cross a border becomes
an
illegal migrant. A migrant child who arrives alone or is separated
from a parent at a border is often referred to as an unaccompanied
minor.

refugee A refugee is a person who flees his or her homeland due to

fear or lack of protection in one’s own country. This person
has “refugee status” in the region they’ve escaped to.

asylum seeker An asylum seeker is someone who considers himself or herself

to be a refugee but does not have official refugee status. Asylum
seekers must appear at a legal port of entry to make a refugee claim.

immigrant An immigrant is a person who lives permanently in a country that is not his or
her homeland. The term legal immigrant is often used to distinguish between a
person who holds the documentation required to live in a country as opposed to
an undocumented (or illegal) immigrant (i.e., someone who has lived in a
country without legal documentation for an extended period of time).

emigrant An emigrant is a person who leaves his or her homeland to move to another
country. The focus is on where a person is leaving from rather than where they’re
moving to. Note that in general, the term immigrant is much more common than
emigrant.

B. What Am I?

Listen to your teacher read some descriptions of people who have

left their homelands. Which term best describes each person or group?

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
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The Migrant Children Crisis

Historic Events

Discussion
1. In your opinion, is it a form of child abuse
to separate migrant children from their parents?

2. Can shelters and tent cities provide appropriate housing for child
migrants? Does it surprise you that these are still used in the US?

3. Is border security important to you personally? Why or why not?

4. The Trump administration wants to build a wall to deter illegal

migration. Do you think this will be helpful? Is it a good use
of money? Explain your opinions.

5. Is keeping migrant families together in detention better than

the “catch and release” method? (This was the method former
administrations used when an illegal border crossing was treated as
a misdemeanor rather than a felony. Families and low-risk asylum
seekers were typically released into the community to await their
immigration hearing.) What do you think should happen to the
detained children after the maximum 20 days based on the zero
tolerance policy?

6. Some families have repeatedly tried to immigrate illegally. Do

you think repeat offenders should be prosecuted more harshly?
When parents know they could be separated from their children at
the border and still attempt the crossing, is this a form of child abuse?

7. Do you think the zero tolerance policy helps prevents people from
smuggling children out of the country who are not their own?

8. In some countries, undocumented immigrants who migrated with

their parents can be deported to a country they have no memory
of or connection to. Do you think this is fair?

Now come up with two more discussion questions

on this topic and discuss them with a partner or group.

9.

10.
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Listening 3. Approximately 2,500 migrant children were

separated from their parents at the US southern
border in the first six weeks following Sessions’s
 http://blog.esllibrary.com/2018/06/19/podcast-migrant-
announcement. Since children cannot be
                in the US, they
children/ Fill in the blanks as you listen to the recording.
were placed in temporary shelters and detention
centres while their parents awaited charges. The
The Migrant Children Crisis Historic Events new policy created overcrowding in the holding
areas and included no plans for the reunification of
families. One large facility in Texas housing 1,500
                minors was a
former Walmart store.

4. The UN’s top human rights

official called the new US policy
“government-               
1. Every year, millions of people seek child abuse.” Many psychologists
                in hopes of and doctors agreed with the UN that
finding a safer or better life. Desperate families breaking up migrant families is a serious
often cross borders illegally to escape poverty,                 of children’s rights.
disease, war, and a multitude of other hardships. Research shows that separating children from
The journey for most migrants is long and parents often results in toxic stress, which can
dangerous. With children in tow it is even more cause many health problems including long-term
                , and for many effects on children’s developing brains.
migrant families, the threat of being separated
5. On June 20, 2018, President Trump caved to
from each other is their greatest fear.
pressure and signed an executive order to allow
2. In the spring of 2018, this nightmare became a migrant families to stay together while awaiting
reality for many families trying to cross into the prosecution. This reversal introduced new
United States. That’s when President Trump’s problems since children can only be kept in
                of illegal detention for 20 days in the US.
migration went into effect. Under his new
6. In countries with strict immigration laws,
policy, illegal migrants are to be immediately
undocumented children often live in constant
detained for prosecution. Attorney
fear of their parents being deported. In some
General Jeff Sessions warned: “If you
cases, parents are deported without their children.
are                 a child,
Immigration workers and lawyers agree that
then we will prosecute you, and that child may be
reuniting families becomes much more difficult
separated from you as required by law.” When a
when parents and children no longer share
nursing baby was taken from her Honduran
the same soil.
mother by US border agents, the unfolding
crisis became headline news.
Copyright 2018, Red River Press Inc. For use by ESL Library members only.  (HIGH INT – ADV / VERSION 2.0)
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