The Trump administration is ready to replace in-court interpreters at immigration court hearings with videos that inform those facing deportation of their rights, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Immigration advocates worry the change may put the rights of asylum seekers and other immigrants in jeopardy.
According to the Chronicle, the Justice Department revealed the change last month at a training session for immigration judges — and noted it’s targeted at hearings where immigration judges meet dozens of illegal immigrants in rapid succession to schedule their cases, tell them their rights and explain the process.
Under the new plan, which the Justice Department told judges could be rolled out by mid-July, a video recorded in multiple languages would play to dispense that information. After that, however, no interpreter will be provided if anyone has a question, according to the news outlet.
Especially vulnerable will be those who don’t have a lawyer for the initial hearing, the Chronicle reported.
“It’s a disaster in the making,” one unnamed judge told the Chronicle. “What if you have an individual that speaks an indigenous language and has no education and is completely illiterate? You think showing them a video is going to completely inform them of their rights? How are they supposed to ask questions of the judge?”
An unnamed Justice Department official touted the move as “part of an effort to be good stewards of [the department’s] limited resources.” The official said the direction to judges was not a policy change, but declined to elaborate.
But the immigration judges' union, the National Association of Immigration Judges, said the move is only squeezing them and risks fairness.
“Interpreter cost is not a surprise cost — it’s an integral part of every case,” union president Ashley Tabaddor, a judge in Los Angeles, told the Chronicle.
The immigration courts have been overwhelmed for years with a burgeoning load that is now approaching 1 million cases, the news outlet reported.
The system is “not an assembly line,” Jeffrey Chase, a former immigration judge and former senior legal adviser to the immigration appeals court, told the Chronicle.
“You’re dealing with people’s lives,” Chase said, adding: “People come in so afraid. If they’re able to talk with the judge and realize, ‘This person is a human being and they’re able to work with me’ — being played a tape reinforces this feeling that, ‘I’m dealing with this deportation machine.’”
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