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Shadowing practice: ICE arrest in a rural Montana town prompts a conservative community to take action

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  1. In a northeastern corner of Montana sits the small town of Freud.0:00
  2. Rural and deeply conservative, it backed President Trump during every one of his White House runs.0:05
  3. But earlier this year, when federal immigration agents detained one of the town's longtime residents, this tight -knit community pushed back.0:10
  4. Here's Montana PBS' Matt Standel.0:18
  5. Just 50 miles from the Canadian border, the town of Freud is home to less than 200 people.0:22
  6. For more than a decade, Roberto Orozco Ramirez has been one of them.0:30
  7. Roberto's our neighbor.0:34
  8. He's a part of our community.0:36
  9. Over the years, Roberto has come to mean a lot of things to a lot of people here.0:38
  10. He's a local diesel mechanic, little league coach, and father of four boys.0:43
  11. Great businessman.0:47
  12. He's my neighbor.0:49
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  1. Ben, my neighbor next door for 11 years.0:50
  2. But what residents of Freud didn't know until recently is that Roberto is also an undocumented immigrant who had been deported back in 2009.0:54
  3. Up until six months ago, I didn't know Roberto was illegal.1:04
  4. Neighbor Keith Nordland says border patrol vehicles started showing up around town in early January.1:07
  5. We had 24 hours a day, seven days a week.1:14
  6. We had at least two border patrolmen in our town.1:16
  7. Agents staked out Roberto's house and, according to his neighbors, even harassed Roberto's children.1:19
  8. I personally don't believe that's right.1:25
  9. Them four boys are American citizens.1:27
  10. Roberto turned himself in on January 25th.1:29
  11. The government charged him with illegal re -entry and immediately took him into detention, telling Montana PBS that this enforcement action represents a community safety priority.1:32
  12. The beef is donated by local rations.1:44
  13. Within days, Keith Nordland found himself organizing the biggest fundraiser this town had ever seen to help Roberto.1:46
  14. More people showed up to the Freud Community Center than the town has residents.1:55
  15. They shared a meal.2:00
  16. They bid on hay and gravel and tools, raising thousands of dollars for Roberto's family.2:02
  17. A separate legal fund raised thousands more.2:07
  18. It's really hard seeing that now he's in jail.2:10
  19. Roberto Orozco Jr.2:14
  20. is Roberto's oldest son.2:16
  21. He says his father fled cartel violence in Mexico as a teenager and came here to build a better life.2:18
  22. It's incredible seeing such a hard -working man.2:25
  23. I mean, my dad, be in a situation like this.2:27
  24. I just don't find it very fair.2:30
  25. When Montana attorney Laura Christofferson heard about Roberto, she says she began studying immigration law and hired an expert thanks to those private donations.2:33
  26. And what they found changed everything.2:44
  27. What we believe is that even in 2009, at the time of his first deportation, he was not afforded due process, which means he was illegally removed.2:46
  28. Christofferson says she found mistake after mistake in the way federal authorities handled Roberto's deportation and says since January, ICE agents have repeatedly violated his rights.2:58
  29. I think people should understand that this is a person who's been in the U .S.3:10
  30. more than 25 years, raised a family with four U .S.3:14
  31. citizen children who are contributing members of our community.3:19
  32. They pay taxes.3:22
  33. They obey the rules.3:24
  34. They follow the law.3:25
  35. They don't take from our society.3:27
  36. In this deep red part of the state, there are mixed feelings about Roberto's legal status.3:29
  37. But Keith Nordland says this ordeal has caused him to question some long -held political beliefs.3:36
  38. I'm not okay that Roberto was here illegally.3:42
  39. I don't believe that's right.3:44
  40. However, our system is so broken that a guy like Roberto that's came here, has worked his butt off, has built a business, he's thriving in a niche, and he3:46
  41. is a valuable asset to our community.3:59
  42. How is there not a way for him to be legal?4:01
  43. Arosco Ramirez versus Vicer et al.4:04
  44. Last month, Roberto's legal team made their case in a Montana courtroom, arguing the Trump administration denied Roberto his constitutional right to due process.4:07
  45. Roberto's neighbors drove six hours across the state to attend the hearing.4:17
  46. There's probably 25 from the Freud community.4:22
  47. I think it's kind of crazy to me how much this has affected the community.4:25
  48. He is so important to us as a community.4:29
  49. Because this isn't just about the letter of the law, this is about humans.4:31
  50. Good neighbors, you know, the kind that you want.4:35
  51. Roberto's four children sat in the front row while lawyers argued for and against his release.4:37
  52. The federal judge ultimately sided with Roberto and against the Trump administration.4:43
  53. So after more than 100 days behind bars, Roberto was released from jail.4:49
  54. And as he walked out of the Cascade County detention center, his oldest son was there to surprise him.4:56
  55. And when he finally made it back to Freud, Roberto's neighbors lined the streets, cheering him on as he made his way back to home.5:03
  56. Roberto says this tight -knit community is what got him through ICE detention and helped him to keep one important thing in mind the whole time.5:15
  57. Well, I think knowing that I wasn't alone or my family wasn't alone, you could be pushing and I've been going through whatever used to get to this The residents5:24
  58. of Freud never expected the nationwide crackdown on immigration to make its way to their tiny town.5:34
  59. But when it did, they were determined to stand up for one of their own.5:41
  60. For the PBS NewsHour, I'm Matt Stadel in Freud, Montana.5:49

American Accent Training on a Montana Immigration Story

This clip is a PBS NewsHour narration about a small Montana town called Freud, where federal agents detained a longtime resident, Roberto Orozco Ramirez, and the community pushed back. At B1 and 170 words per minute, it moves at a steady news pace, clear enough to follow but fast enough to push your listening.

The narrator's American accent is even and unhurried, the kind used across broadcast journalism, which makes this good material for american accent training. The clip mixes a narrator's voiceover with short soundbites from neighbors and Roberto's son, so you get two registers in one recording, the polished, scripted delivery of Matt Standel and the plain, unscripted speech of people describing their neighbor in a few words. That contrast is part of what makes it useful for english listening practice, because real conversations rarely sound rehearsed.

The Language in This Clip: Short, Plain Lines from Real Neighbors

Three lines from the opening of the transcript are worth slowing down for. Neighbor Keith Nordland says, "Roberto's our neighbor.", just three words, but the contraction and the flat, matter of fact stress on "neighbor" show how people actually talk about someone they know well. Another neighbor adds, "He's a part of our community.", a slightly longer line built around the phrase "a part of", which beginners often flatten or skip. Later in the clip, a resident says, "It's really hard seeing that now he's in jail.", where the emotional weight sits on "really hard" rather than on the final word.

  • "Roberto's our neighbor." three words, flat stress on "neighbor", the kind of line worth practising until the contraction stops sounding careful.
  • "He's a part of our community." the preposition phrase "a part of" is easy to swallow if you speed through it.
  • "It's really hard seeing that now he's in jail." put the stress on "really hard", not on "jail", to match how the speaker says it.

How to Practise English Speaking Through Freud, Montana's Story

Work through this clip in the order the story is told rather than jumping around. The lines above sit close together near the start of the transcript, so you can build a short practice loop before moving further into the piece.

  • Start with line 1, "In a northeastern corner of Montana sits the small town of Freud.", and shadow this line slowly to get the place names and rhythm right before speeding up.
  • Move to lines 7 and 8 and repeat "Roberto's our neighbor." and "He's a part of our community." back to back until the contractions come out without hesitation.
  • Practise line 30, "It's really hard seeing that now he's in jail.", aiming for the same stress pattern the speaker uses on "really hard".
  • Record yourself saying all three neighbor lines in a row, then compare your pace to the original before continuing into the rest of the transcript, where Roberto's son and the town's attorney pick up the story.
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