Edith Muleiro
Panel: Inclusive Responses to Language Violence
Chair: Edith Muleiro
The first presentation focuses on research surrounding interpretation in U.S. Immigration Courts and social services, with a comparative lens based on the panelist’s work in Spain. For asylum seekers worldwide, lack of language access is particularly problematic because the inability to convey their stories may be the difference between life and death.
In the US, this research was carried out in Texas. Immigrants who speak a language other than English struggle to access quality interpretation and translation in US courtrooms due to a variety of linguistic, social, and cultural challenges. To learn more about this language polemic, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 professionals who work in social service and judicial systems related to immigration courts in Texas.
Findings indicated that the largest gaps and challenges pertain to interpreter training, reporting pathways, working conditions, telephonic interpretation, translation of documents, and interpretation for detained respondents. Policy implications include suggested changes to the current interpretation system which integrate language justice principles.
These findings will be compared to observations of interpretation practices within social services in Spain, based on Edith Muleiro’s role as a social service coordinator at a non-profit that works with LGBTI+ migrants. This comparison seeks to highlight the similarities within the systems that asylum seekers travel through worldwide.