Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Effects of Lesser Spoken Language Access in Immigration Court

University Of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Abstract

The proposed research examines how scarcity of interpreting services shapes access to justice in immigration courts through an ethnographic case study. Though respondents have a right to an interpreter at all hearings, interpreting services for lesser spoken or rare languages are minimally available. As a result, respondents frequently waive interpretation services. The research analyzes how courtroom authorities attempt to uphold language access plans that prescribe best practices while availability of quality language services remains limited on the ground. The research applies language and communication theory to institutional policies through first person interviews and observations of courtroom proceedings. Expanding on conclusions from over a year of preliminary fieldwork, the research observes how (1) scarcity of interpreting resources creates an economy of labor between judges, lawyers, and non-government legal aid to help respondents understand proceedings; (2) courtroom spaces with limited language services allow immigration judges to innovate communicative strategies to compensate for gaps in respondent understanding; (3) under the pressure of limited resources, judges rely on both institutional and personal beliefs about language, and linguistic comprehension, to make decisions about the necessity of interpreting services. This long term ethnographic study of immigration court will contribute to sociolegal and anthropological scholarship on mobility and citizenship by examining the critical component of language access in immigration adjudication.