The urgent need for language access in Immigration Detention

Immigration detention is a staggering modern phenomenon, with the United States detaining more noncitizens in connection with civil removal cases than any other country in the world.

In 2023, ICE detained a daily average of nearly 30,000 people from all over the world in a vast patchwork of 150 detention centers across the nation. That number has only grown in 2024.

Language access is an increasingly important component of this sprawling system. Last year alone, ICE detained individuals from over 170 countries who spoke dozens of languages, including—increasingly—a diverse array of less common languages indigenous to Latin America and West Africa.

The data indicates that an overwhelming majority of this growing population has little to no ability to speak, understand, read, or write English.

The importance of providing language access to people with limited English proficiency (LEP) is well recognized in U.S. law. It is particularly critical for LEP individuals in immigration detention. In this context, the ability to communicate is essential to meaningfully access basic necessities such as medical and mental health care.

And because there is no general right to government-appointed representation and only a small proportion of detained noncitizens are represented by counsel in their removal cases, language access in detention center law libraries is also essential for most detained LEP people to even understand the charges against them, much less prepare any sort of legal defense to deportation.

Linguists with Respond Crisis Translation participated in interviewing and sharing their expertise in this research article titled “Held Incommunicado: The Failed Promise of Language Access in Immigration Detention.”

Check out the full study here: bit.ly/ICE-language-access