Question

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 Children of the Drug Wars,”

Sonia Nazario

Which words or phrases from the passage have strong connotations that support the author’s purpose? Check all that apply.

“sham process”
“fearful, traumatized youngsters”
“government-funded lawyer”
“represent immigrant children”
“under current immigration laws”
“hurtling children back”

Answer 1

“sham process”
“fearful, traumatized youngsters”
“hurtling children back”

These phrases carry strong negative or emotional connotations that reinforce the author’s argument—casting current procedures as deceptive, eliciting sympathy for vulnerable children, and suggesting urgent danger if children are returned.