Respond Crisis Translation in the news: Language violence is threatening asylum seekers at the border

Written By Andrea Vargas
 

Language violence against asylum seekers on the border is increasing.  

All asylum seekers are now required to use the government’s new glitchy CBP One Mobile App in order to initiate the asylum process. It is only partially accessible in 5 poorly-translated languages. As our Haitian Creole Team Lead recounts in the article,  the app is “worse than Google Translate”: completely unintelligible and impossible to use for most asylum seekers. 

These language barriers are deadly.

Not having access to the contents of the CBP One App means countless people are unable to access the asylum process at all. This leaves them stranded in dangerous circumstances on the border where they face death threats, kidnapping, extortion, rape, and extreme weather. 

In the absence of any linguistic due-diligence from CBP, our team of trauma-informed, qualified translators is mobilizing around-the-clock to help asylum seekers navigate the CBP One app. We are in urgent need of funding and support to sustain this work:

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Thank you!

 
Andrea Vargas
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