Daniel De La Cruz

Dr. Haslam

English 1010

26 October 2021

Rhetorical Analysis: Increasing Migrant Encounters at Border

In Migrant Encounters at U.S.-Mexico border are at a 21 year high, written by John

Gramlich, the author explains what the overall numbers are of the increasing amount of people

coming to the border. This article was published on August 21, 2021 by Pew Research Center

and was intended to show people one of the many problems the U.S. has encountered. Gramlich

also wants to highlight what the U.S. is doing to help with this ongoing problem and also show

some of the things that the President has already been doing. Throughout the article, the author

displays examples of logos, pathos and ethos while including many statistics to help support his

claim. He also uses tone to show the reader the facts he is trying to convey.

Gramlich begins by stating that since July of this year, the number of encounters with

migrants along the United States-Mexico border has had a monthly high in more than two

decades. He then goes on to explain that when the coronavirus outbreak hit in April 2020, the

numbers fell because there was a closure of the southwestern border, and the overall migration

slowed across much of the world. He states that after this, migrant encounters have increased

sharply reaching 199,700 in July and that this has been the biggest total from the last migration

wave that occurred in May of 2019. Gramlich also addresses how the United States deals with

some of these migrant encounters. Furthermore, he goes on to explain that there are two kinds of

events that take place at these borders. The first one being apprehensions, in which migrants are

taken into custody and await adjudication. The other is expulsion in which they are expelled to
their home country without being held in U.S. custody. Following this he goes on to talk about

how Trump’s administration invoked Title 42 in March 2020 declaring that it would slow the

spread of coronavirus by expelling the migrants rather than holding them in U.S. immigration

facilities. Towards the end, Gramlich mentions that expulsion has become less common and

apprehensions have become more common since President Joe Biden’s took office. “In July, 47%

of migrant encounters resulted in expulsion, down from 83% in January, when Biden took office.

During the same period, the share of migrant encounters that resulted in apprehension rose from

17% to 53%” explains Gramlich. This shows that since President Biden took office, the number

of cases that were handled ended up awaiting adjudication rather than being expelled

immediately, so the overall number of apprehensions increased. Gramlich then finishes off by

showing how the origin countries of the migrants have changed due to the people from the

Northern Triangle countries- El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. He explains how this

change has had an effect not only on the border but also to the people from these countries.

While analyzing the effects and consequences that have taken place at the border it is

clear that the author's purpose is to inform the reader about how important this is and how much

change there has been over the years. Author John Gramlich has included researched information

that helps the reader understand how effective this article is. By comparing how the Trump

Administration dealt with this issue versus the Biden Administration, they changed what was

previously being done. This shows the audience what results have happened and highlights major

changes in those being helped here in the United States. One example can be that due to the

growing number of apprehended migrants, the administration is offering coronavirus vaccines to

those in custody.
 The author appeals to logos many times throughout the whole article by giving facts and

statistics on the growing number of migrants since April of 2020. Gramlich begins by showing

that in April there were about 16,000 migrants coming to the border but over the course of a few

months that number skyrocketed to nearly 200,000. Gramlich displays various graphs showing

how the numbers have changed throughout the course of many years but during these months

they have increased very rapidly. He also uses logos by showing how the number of single

migrants have gone from 28% in May of 2019 to 53% by July 2021. This gives the reader more

information so they can really see all the different parts to the problem.

The author goes on to further his point through the use of pathos. Towards the end of the

article, the author discusses how single adults are the ones who are mostly found at these

borders. This shows pathos in the way it allows readers to empathize with the single parent/adult.

He also gives information about how unaccompanied minors have also been present at the

borders by showing a graph displaying the increasing numbers. This gives the reader a sort of

emotion and feeling of sadness toward them. By using these examples, Gramlich wants the

reader to connect to things addressed throughout the article. By having a despairing feeling, the

reader can further understand what some of these migrants may go through and maybe help with

the subject or try and find a way to fix it.

Gramlich appeals to ethos by showing where he came from and displaying facts and

graphs directly from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The audience would trust the

author based on how research was done to prove these facts. Also one can see the credibility of

the author because he is part of an organization that is based on research, Pew Research Center).

Overall, through this article the author was able to further explain the situations that go

on at the border. He made each point clear by including a variety of ethos, pathos, and logos. The
author was able to successfully reach the audience by including a great amount of research to

back up the given claims. By including an amount of background information he was also able to

appeal to the audience's emotions by provoking the audience to feel sympathy and empathy. The

author also had an optimistic tone in writing this because throughout the article,he showed the

numbers behind the problem and highlighted that we should do something about it. Through the

analysis of this article it became clear what the author's overall purpose was in creating this

article. (1062 words)

 References

Gramlich, John. “Migrant Encounters at U.S.-Mexico Border Are at a 21-Year High.” Pew

Research Center, Pew Research Center, 16 Aug. 2021,

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/08/13/migrant-encounters-at-u-s-mexico-bord

er-are-at-a-21-year-high/.

Peer Review Comments: Throughout the article the author - Add a comma after article. While analyzing the effects and

consequences that have taken place at the border it is clear that the author's purpose is to inform the reader about how

important this is and how much change there has been over the years - Your thesis is very strong and very specific. people form

the Northern - from not form. Also by comparing how the Trump Administration dealt with this issue versus how the Biden

Administration, in a way changed what was previously being done, is currently doing, - This sentence is awkward and doesn't

flow very well. Maybe split it into two or simplify it. The author appeals to logos - Show more examples of those stats that you

used in the beginning. Towards the end of the article the author - comma after article. found at these borders - Specify where

they are found at the border; being held there, trying to cross there, etc. Through the analysis of this article it became clear

what the author's overall purpose was in creating this article. - don't just say he made his point clear, say what his point was,

and just say he did a good job at explaining... I think that this analysis of, Migrant Encounters at U.S.-Mexico border are at a

21 year high, was very well written. The flow of the whole essay was very good and gave enough background and explanation

to show the reader that this is something they should care about. They had a very clear and specific thesis. I think the

connections back to that thesis, however, could've used a little more improvement. The pointing out of rhetoric in the article

that they were analyzing was very specific. I think, however, that it would very much strengthen their point if, in those

explanations, they used specific quotes and examples from the article itself. The essay itself is organized in a very effective and

logical way. It is in no way confusing or illogical. I think that if you were to put Ethos first, it would make more sense because

then the reader knows that the author is definitely credible.

This essay had a very good and professional tone. The writer did a good job at quoting the article and using evidence to

back up their claims. However, I felt that there were a lot of sentences that were confusing and difficult to understand. Some

simple rewording and grammatical editing would fix these issues. I felt like the summary gave a good overview of the article,

but as the reader, it felt really long. I think there was a lot of unnecessary information that could’ve been edited out to make the

summary feel more like a summary. Because of the length of the summary, I felt like it took away from what the focus of the
essay was supposed to be, which was the use of rhetorical devices in the article. I felt like the essay focused more on the

content than the text. Cutting the summary down and lengthening the portion about the rhetoric would easily fix this problem. I

felt that this essay was organized very well. Each topic is organized in a good order that makes sense. Although, there were a

few transitions that felt a little choppy because of run-on sentences and grammatical errors. This should be fixed easily with

some more revision. Annotations: “...written by John Gramlich he explains…” - Add a comma after “Gramlich” and change

“he” to “the author”. “...the overall numbers are of the increasing number of people coming to the border” - This sentence

doesn’t really make sense, and the use of the word “number” is repetitive. “Gramlich also wants to highlight what we are doing

to help…” - Who is “we”? Some more explanation would be helpful. “...and really show and make a point to this subject” -

This part seems a little wordy. I would suggest deleting the extra fluff. “...there was a closure of the southwestern border and

the overall migration slowed across much of the world.” - There should be a comma after the word “and”. “The first one being

apprehensions, in which migrants are taken into custody and await adjudication, the other being expulsion in which they are

expelled to their home country without being held in U.S. custody” - The comma after “adjudication” should be changed to a

period. “Towards the end Gramlich mentions…” - There should be a comma after “end”. “...expulsion has become less

common and apprehensions more common since President Joe Biden’s took office” - There is some inconsistency here. I

would change “expulsion has” to “expulsions have”. I would also add “have become” after “apprehensions”. “This shows that

since President Biden took office the number of cases…” - There needs to be a comma after “office”. “...so overall the number

of apprehensions increased” - I would change “overall the number” to “the overall number”. This will help it flow better.

The text was summarized very well. It gave just enough context and important details that I could understand what the

article was explaining, along with some specific examples. The text does an alright job of introducing the contents of the

article, but there isn't too much context for why the article was written or the call to write. The why behind what the author was

writing doesn't really show here The summary gives just enough information while also remaining short. I got a few main

points of the article and understood the main idea very well. While analyzing the effects and consequences that have taken

place at the border it is clear that the authors purpose is to inform the reader about how important this is and how much change

there has been over the years. The thesis focuses on the authors purpose for writing this article and not the contents of the

article. They claim that the author included research info that helps the reader understand how effective the article is, the author

appeals to logos many times throughout the article by giving facts and statistics, and the author appealed to ethos by showing

where he came from and displaying facts and wraps directly from U.S. Customs. The claims show how the author showed

these individual rhetorical appeals, but not how they support the author in showing the importance of this topic. Show how the

logos and facts included were intended to bring importance or more awareness. The text states that the overall purpose became

clear, but they don't restate it. There isn't much of an argument being made, they just state the author used the different appeals.
The text focuses on the rhetorical appeals and they are all pretty evenly explained. I didn't notice any choppy transitions and

the text flows in a very logical order. No spelling errors, i didn't notice any grammar errors no questions asked