Question

Read the excerpt from "Children of the Drug Wars.”

To ensure this isn’t a sham process, asylum officers and judges must be trained in child-sensitive interviewing techniques to help elicit information from fearful, traumatized youngsters. All children must also be represented by a volunteer or government-funded lawyer. Kids in Need of Defense, a nonprofit that recruits pro bono lawyers to represent immigrant children and whose board I serve on, estimates that 40 percent to 60 percent of these children potentially qualify to stay under current immigration laws—and do, if they have a lawyer by their side. The vast majority do not. The only way to ensure we are not hurtling children back to circumstances that could cost them their lives is by providing them with real due process.

The text repeats the word children. How does this repetition serve the author’s purpose?

It emphasizes that it is easy for children to get immigration status.
It reminds readers that young, innocent lives are being harmed by failed policies.
It helps to convince readers that immigration laws for children should be changed.
It helps to convince readers that more lawyers are needed to defend children.

Answer 1

It reminds readers that young, innocent lives are being harmed by failed policies.

The repeated use of "children" emphasizes their vulnerability and the human stakes, eliciting sympathy and focusing attention on the moral consequences of current policy.