TED Talks

A personal plea for humanity at the US-Mexico border | Juan Enriquez

Visit to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized Talk recommendations and more. “This isn’t about kids and borders,” he says. “It’s about us. This is about who we are, who we the people are, as a nation and as individuals.” Get TED Talks recommended just for you! Learn more at .…

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Visit to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized Talk recommendations and more.

“This isn’t about kids and borders,” he says. “It’s about us. This is about who we are, who we the people are, as a nation and as individuals.”

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32 Comments

  1. Zoja Brown

    November 2, 2019 at 8:47 pm

    He ignores the fact that they are Breaking the law and think that is their right. IF they break that law WHAT OTHER Laws will they Break.

    • JW

      November 3, 2019 at 7:42 am

      Every law eventually. We are either as nation under law or we are not.

  2. Stephen McCarthy

    November 2, 2019 at 11:49 pm

    Idealistically he’s right. Realistically he is all over the place and ineffective. Guilt and chastising TED talks doesn’t change people’s hearts and minds alone. “Speak softly and carry a big stick”. I always believed that actions spoke louder than words (yes I know that I’m reversing the context’s meaning of that TR quotation, but the saying still applies to my point)

  3. Rodrigo Vidal

    November 3, 2019 at 12:50 am

    Liberals call what they preach and do “social justice”, but I call anarchy and management incompetence.

  4. woah far out

    November 3, 2019 at 6:16 am

    my personal plea is to HAVE a US-Mexico border.

  5. philip hunter

    November 3, 2019 at 6:32 am

    Strange that he alludes to President Trump creating division without evidence by describing what Democrats do as a matter of policy…. odd

    • JW

      November 3, 2019 at 7:41 am

      Democrats have become professional delusionists.

  6. Kimberly25christine smith

    November 3, 2019 at 10:59 am

    Compassion isnt a weakness its what seperates us from Isis.

    • Jerry Whidby

      November 3, 2019 at 3:44 pm

      And where is the compassion from other Latin American countries? Brazil and Mexico are in the top 20 economies in the world.

    • Kimberly25christine smith

      November 3, 2019 at 5:50 pm

      @Jerry Whidby that can never be our excuse. I understand the sentiment but c’mon if we make policies based on the inaction of other countries I dont want this country to be as poweful as it is. You do something because its right. They are human. That’s what it comes down to. Every other factor and excuse for poor treatment doesnt matter at the end of the day. But we arent the country we tell ourselves we are . land of the free and all that with mass incarceration. Our borders reflect the ugliness that this country is capable of. And when people accept that horrible things are allowed to happen.

  7. Jerry Whidby

    November 3, 2019 at 2:59 pm

    For all of you people who believe this guy’s b******* message. Please look up the cities in the world with the highest homicide rates. Latin America dominates that list. So when we say a lot of murderers to be coming across the border well…. And then there is the claim that 80% of the women crossing the border are raped. Which seems like an extremely high number. Personally I believe that this is a way to get a Visa called a U Visa. Let’s say these are legitimate claims. Doesn’t that mean there’s a lot of rapists crossing our border. And haven’t a lot of these “refugees” been offered asylum in Mexico, but turned it down. Then there’s the attacks on ICE facilities. Where a person even tried firebombing one facility full of refugees. What about the rallies, where Mexicans march down the streets holding Mexican flags, and the American flag is mounted upside down on a pole. What about the government building where they removed the American flag. Or the Post Office where the were raising the Mexican flag every day. How many lives have been destroyed by narcotics that Latinos flooded our country with. Did they care about us? No. There are 33 countries in Latin America. Why can’t “refugees” go to those countries? Why are so many of those countries a train wreck? Beautiful weather, an abundance of natural resources, and they say there are a lot of people who will do the jobs that we won’t do, so why Panther countries wealthier and more stable? Not a lot of people are aware that 96% of all enslaved Africans were taken to Latin America. Even with slave labor they have made very little of those countries. In fact Brazil had the most enslaved Africans. Now it has the highest murder rate in the world. Mexico just had its highest murder rate on record. We could also get into the Mexican Reconquista. Where Mexicans believe that parts of America still belong to them. Or let’s discuss the Mexican Casta System, and how they assassinated their first black president. We owe them nothing, and countries like Brazil voted for Communist in the past. Hopefully Bolsonaro will fix that country. Meanwhile we see what socialism did to Venezuela. Mexico has just elected a socialist, so let’s see how that goes. When we get the border wall up, Mexico will have to face its problems. Not just send its poor across our border. America has kept Mexicans from revolting against a corrupt government for decades. Which is kept then from naturally fixing their government.

  8. Jerry Whidby

    November 3, 2019 at 3:11 pm

    “They’re in concentration camps!” What a farce. Hey buddy how about the woman posing by the border with her two kids in a running pose? What about the pet cage people put a toddler in, and tried to convince everyone that ICE was doing that? No one is forcing people to bring their kids. Why not mention that people are selling their kids to border crossers, or that DNA testing in one area showed that most children are not related to their accompanying adult. This guy is probably a shill for the cartels.

    Oh and something to consider. There is a claim that 80% of all women crossing the border illegally are raped. For anyone who believes that extremely high number. Please look up the U Visa program. Victims of violent crimes can receive one of these visas. They give out 40000 a year. Up from 10,000 not long ago. These women or men are allowed to bring several of their family members. They also receive government benefits, and are allowed to apply for citizenship after 3 years.

  9. Jerry Whidby

    November 3, 2019 at 3:15 pm

    2:57 citation needed. When has the government held an illegal indefinitely with no trial. And why is it that someone getting away with breaking our laws for 20 years is a defense. The fact that they were able to get away with it for 20 years only shows how broken our immigration system is. How bad is our immigration system that they could slip through the cracks for 20 years? Doesn’t that show that we need to have a tougher immigration system.

  10. Jerry Whidby

    November 3, 2019 at 3:21 pm

    This guy is a joke. Trying to paint all of these tear-jerking emotional responses in people’s minds. He sounds just like a con artist to me. I wonder if the cartels are paying him?

  11. Jerry Whidby

    November 3, 2019 at 3:29 pm

    4:47 insert white privilege guilt. How about these are the people you paid too little to do all of these jobs. The people that you knew or suspected were illegal. I love how this guy assigns all the menial labor jobs to illegals. A lot of the jobs that they take are in construction. Which is an industry that used to be full of black people. When Obama was President these people were defending illegals being here. While at the same time unemployment are black Americans was twice as high as it was for white Americans. Am I the only one who thinks it’s strange to give jobs to people from other countries when your own citizens need those jobs? What people aren’t considering is that the millions of illegals here have to be working someplace. All of those employers enjoy that extra revenue they get from hiring illegals. So likely they send people out like this guy to advocate for illegals.

  12. Jerry Whidby

    November 3, 2019 at 3:41 pm

    5:17 treated me well? Okay. Kate Steinle might disagree with that if she could. Treated me with respect? That’s laughable. You mean by thumbing their noses at our immigration laws? 20-26% of federal prisoners are illegals. How many illegals are receiving welfare for their kids. How many billions are we spending to school their children? When does this become the responsibility of other Latin American countries? Why is this being put on America? Wouldn’t they better assimilate in another Latin American country?

  13. Lee Kilpatrick

    November 3, 2019 at 4:51 pm

    Not worthy of Ted talks. Lacks fact and credibility

  14. Caleb Buchta

    November 3, 2019 at 5:59 pm

    This guy has a net worth of $1.51 million.

    I’d like to see him open his home to illegal immigrants. Tear down that gated community Juan!

  15. Jersey Devil

    November 3, 2019 at 6:30 pm

    How about the south American Governments take responsibility for their own people and provide them a better quality of life!

  16. Erwin Moreno

    November 3, 2019 at 6:51 pm

    This is some nice propaganda leading up to the next election(?). As a mexican-american this makes no sense. Most illegals that I know are treated pretty well, including members of my own family, even if they are cought living illegally. There’s a lot of things going wrong with mass imigration but we need real solutions not some random guy being ofended for another race. He sounds exactly like my latin america classmates doing chicano studies degrees. It’s almost as if they cut and pasted this guy with a “mexican” name and just made him spout feel good bs

    • Jerry Whidby

      November 3, 2019 at 8:43 pm

      I agree, but may I ask what race are you?

    • JW

      November 3, 2019 at 10:32 pm

      Erwin – Your story has more value than the speaker’s!

  17. Misal Misalnya

    November 3, 2019 at 7:17 pm

    Thou shall not cheat the system!
    whatever jargons you use, human rights, humanity, so on and so forth THOU SHALL NOT CHEAT!
    submit your papers and wait in the queue!

    • Yeoman International

      November 4, 2019 at 2:47 am

      The queue can be 20 years long or more; if you lived in an area besieged by gangs or embroiled in civil war, would you wait that long?

  18. Josh F

    November 3, 2019 at 8:23 pm

    If you want to be historically accurate Invaders would be executed if they passed borders without consent. (Most cultures) managing influx of immigration isn’t uncommon(across the world) ICE facilities themselves asked for more funding(to expedite and upgrade QOL) to be shot down by people with warped perception of them. Open borders isn’t a country but a space waiting to become one.

  19. Captain Codebook

    November 4, 2019 at 12:35 am

    We have a legal way to enter. These people have come here with the INTENT to break our laws and enter and hid. I don’t believe they are all bad..or criminals….or diseased.
    But they are NOT coming here to be law abiding Americans by BREAKING LAWS to get here.
    AND USING KIDS AS PAWNS IS THEIR FAULT
    DON’T BRING YOUR KIDS WHILE BREAKING THE LAW.
    This talk is such a hack job
    BOOOOOOO TED TALKS.
    Shame on you for this skewed, obviously political farce.

  20. J Nomad

    November 4, 2019 at 4:18 am

    God some of you people arguing that immigrants are breaking laws to get here, are not citizens, should put the papers in the process or should not be here. It’s sickening. There isn’t much I probably could say to change your minds, but have some sense of humanity in your hearts . There’s plenty of legitimate reason people are here illegally. What happened to give us your poor, your needs. This is America and we should emphasize with people who are struggling to live, eat, and to provide for their families. That’s the America I want to live in, and that’s just simply the American dream.

  21. Shoeless b

    November 4, 2019 at 5:32 am

    Anybody else here ever get arrested in Mexico ?

  22. Sjf Saphire

    November 4, 2019 at 6:34 am

    It’s not about being compassionate kind and brave. It’s about respect. And if people cant and dont respect America’s laws , how can we provide everyone their right to live work and make good here safely . ? We may not see eye to eye but for those who disapprove, remember , you are coming here to find a better life and such. Not to come over and go back to your own home. .., your consequences are not a choice. You get what you put out. That is why the wall matters. It helps our country stay safe and helps us move towards a safer future for any decent visitor.

  23. Jay G

    November 4, 2019 at 1:32 pm

    More partisan BS. If you don’t like the laws (like I don’t), tell your congressional representatives and senators to change the law.

  24. Nupur Nishant

    November 4, 2019 at 3:58 pm

    3:1 like:dislike ratio? Why?

  25. motinuppi

    November 4, 2019 at 7:35 pm

    Why hasn’t my cab driver/gardener/nanny/waiter applied for immigrant status or asylum thru the legal route?

    Juan’s plea only makes sense if the people facing legal problems tried to immigrate legally. If they came in illegally, it’s a another can of worms completely.

    I’m not saying you shouldn’t feel sympathy for people who want to live and work in the USA, but there is a reason every successful country in the world has border controls.

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