For some people, immigration seems easy. It is planned … For many others, it is not easy, not planned, and most of the time sudden and uncertain. They barely have time to gather their documents and essential belongings. I know people who always carry their documents with them because they don’t know when or if they will go back home. They don’t even know if they won’t find their house burned down when they return.

At RCT, we mobilize to ensure that anyone experiencing language as a barrier to safety or dignity has access to free, professional, trauma-informed translation and interpretation services. It may not surprise you that a large volume of the cases we take on involve LGBTQ+ individuals whose identity has meant they have been targeted, mistreated, or abused in their countries of origin…

One of the most powerful moments of my year with RCT was interpreting for Marwa (pseudonym), a transgender woman who had been detained by ICE since 2024 and was ultimately granted release. This experience reaffirmed why language access …

Since I was displaced from Gaza City to Deir al-Balah, I have been living through an extraordinary human experience. I still feel traumatized by the experience of displacement, the fear, and being forced to flee Gaza in order to survive.

We temporarily took shelter in a friend’s house. We sleep in a concrete room where their aunt lives.The room is small, dark, and unpainted. We spread a mat on the floor.

My journey with Respond Crisis Translation began after I graduated with a degree in English Translation in Gaza. I had heard so much about Respond’s supportive and empowering environment through online platforms and translator communities, …

Every translation has a real, tangible impact on someone's story. The work of the Spanish Team.

Working at Respond and being part of the community has shown me that what we are doing really does make a difference. Every case we translate or interpret has a real, tangible impact on someone's story. Getting the chance to work with people who are aligned on the same causes …

by Respond team translators in GAZA.

March 27, 2025:
Like sheep in a pen, we await our slaughter. We know we are sacrifices, yet we mimic the language of life in Gaza …

– How a Twi interpreter saves lives with her skills
By Portia Oware Twerefoo
After almost six months of providing emotional interpretation for Fii (name changed for privacy), I was overjoyed to hear about his release from the ICE detention center…

by Dafnes Aly
Before becoming Project Manager of Respond's Portuguese Team, I worked as an interpreter with a Brazilian client and two pro bono lawyers from the USA. They didn't speak each other's language and …

Anna, a self-taught Russian<>English interpreter, spent 2 years in immigration detention interpreting hundreds of asylum cases for other folks detained with her.Since her release, she continues to support asylum cases with Respond.