From Persecution to Prison - Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of ...

Translation and Communication DifficultiesSeveral asylum seekers interviewed reported problems communicating thecircumstances of their flight to the INS, a critical hurdle for some. In severalcases, the INS used airline employees as interpreters. But some of theairlines are government agencies and these interpreters were employees ofthe same governments asylum seekers were fleeing.According to one asylum seeker, a flight attendant, who was used as aninterpreter, made fun of him, while she translated for him. He was afraidand feared that he would be killed upon return. Initially, the flight attendanttold him there was no such thing as asylum in America.Without the aid of an interpreter, according to another asylum seeker,officials filled out a form, and then advised him to “just say yes or no” inresponse to the questions they asked. He remembers, “I didn’t know whatI was saying.” When asked which language he spoke, he told them [hisnative language – not English] and they wrote down “English.” He statesthat they also wrote “a whole lot of stuff that I didn’t say, in the paperwork. . . The officers were agitated and forceful.” He was then brought tothe INS detention facility. It was never explained to him where he wasbeing taken.A woman fleeing her country after rape and torture reported that shewas unaided by any translation. Later, the INS used her failure to state herpersecution against her in immigration hearings.I didn’t speak the language and I didn’t know I had to say anything…All I said in English was ‘I came to visit.’ After the interview I didn’tknow that I was arrested. I was waiting for my passport. I go to make aphone call and they didn’t let me finish the phone call. They took meand put me in chains on a chair.Another asylum seeker said:I was treated like a criminal. I didn’t get a chance to explain myselfbecause of the language problem. They handcuffed me and told me theydidn’t want to listen to anything I had to say, that I was going home onthe next flight. I said I didn’t want to go home. They said, ‘Then youwill go to prison.’ I said okay.One subject, who was shackled for 16 of the 20 hours that she was heldat the airport, complained that “[The interpreter] never translated the conclusionof the interview to me. He just handed me the paper and told meto ‘come’,” directly before they brought her to the INS detention facility.Overall, she characterized her experience at the airport by “shouting,screaming; poor translation; no explanation of procedure,” saying she felt“humiliated” because she wanted to say that she had come to the US toARRIVAL IN THE UNITED STATES 143