Respond in Teen Vogue: The US weaponizes language against asylum seekers
Respond Crisis Translation’s Valentina Callari Lewis writes that asylum seekers who speak Indigenous and marginalized languages are regularly deprived of their fundamental human right to quality translation services at the US border.
“The problem is a country that devalues translators and language diversity and, as a result, leaves countless migrants without support. Asylum seekers come with a trauma — they would not have left their home countries if that weren’t the case. But the US government, by keeping them from telling their stories, virtually weaponizes their languages against them.”
Read more about our work mobilizing to provide language access to speakers of Indigenous and marginalized languages.
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