Tag: asylum-seekers

Translation Stops Deportation!

In June, ICE had just boarded Maria (name has been changed) onto a deportation flight bound for her home country when her flight was suddenly halted. Illinois senator Tammy Duckworth’s office had intervened because of the petitions of Maria’s friends and advocates, who had reached out to the senator when she went missing from immigration detention. Maria’s advocates used the documents Refugee Translation Project translated to mobilize the senator’s office and to grant Maria a credible fear interview. This interview gives Maria the opportunity to make her case that the horrific gender-based violence she endured, and would face again if she returned, is reason enough to allow her to stay in the USA. Maria’s advocate told us, “I don’t think this would have been possible without the massive amounts of translated evidence we had to support our Maria’s case.” 

Translation plays a crucial role in supporting asylum cases.  Applicants would not be able to tell their story of persecution and prove it without a sufficient amount of translated evidence. RTP’s translations compliments the amazing work done by pro bono law firms and legal aid organizations to help immigrants and asylum seekers like Maria win their cases. 

Maria had fled her country with her young daughters after members of organized crime perpetrated years of gender-based violence against her and threatened her daughters. Our team of translators translated over 60 pages of testimonials by friends and neighbors, as well as dozens of pages of forensic reports, screenshots of violent text messages against her and her children, and police files documenting her abuse. Thankfully Maria was returned to have her day in court before she faced violent repercussions in her home country.

RTP receives dozens of cases like this every month and we are struggling to keep up, as demand is still outpacing funding. Our clients cannot afford the exorbitant costs of translation during this vulnerable time in their lives. Our Translation Stops Deportation campaign seeks to raise funds to support people like Maria, who have fled gender-based violence, as well as others who have fled political and ethnic violence.

Meet Our 2025 CUNY Interns!

Our two CUNY Career Launch interns, Izzy Taveras and Alesia Martinez, began their Social Services Access Team positions the week of July 14 at Cafewal, a space run by our partners EV Loves NYC and East Village Neighbors Who Care. Izzy and Alesia have each worked over 75 hours helping community members navigate immigration issues, apply for work authorization, resumes, find employment, and obtain social services and benefits.

Izzy and Alesia use their Spanish language skills to make the space more inclusive to Spanish-speaking community members while working with volunteer interpreters to assist French, Pulaar, and Wolof speaking community members who make up the majority of Cafewal’s community base.

Izzy Taveras majors in Criminal Justice at John Jay where she is working towards her certificate in legal translation and interpretation and volunteers as a researcher for language access policies in the United States. Izzy plans to apply for the BS/MA program at John Jay to earn her JD and PhD and possibly go into immigration law.

Alesia Martinez is a rising senior at Kingsborough Community College where she expects to graduate with an Associated in Science degree in Mental Health and Human Services, ultimately earning her master’s degree to become a licensed social worker. Growing up as a daughter of immigrants, she has  translated documents and helped family members navigate different application processes. 

SUPPORT INTERPRETATION TRAINING FOR AFRICAN ASYLUM SEEKERS!

We are excited to announce a joint project between Afrikana and the Refugee Translation Project that will provide paid, on-the-job interpreter training to multilingual asylum seekers from the African continent. The project aims to empower asylum seekers by providing them with employment opportunities as stipend-based  interpreters while simultaneously providing niche language support to asylum seekers in need of services. We aim to pilot this program as soon as possible, as the need is urgent.

The Problem:

New African asylum seekers in New York City face many unique challenges and obstacles, two of which are lack of employment opportunities and lack of access to social services due to language barriers. They constitute a new group of asylum seekers to New York, and there is not enough service organizations capable of assisting them. They therefore end up being excluded from resources meant to help new immigrants. The huge influx of asylum seekers from Senegal, Mauritania, Sudan, Guinea, the Congo and  other African countries are escaping slavery, religious persecution, and war. They are in need of health, legal, and other services. Many  speak languages or dialects of languages that are not recognized by the city’s existing language policy. Afrikana, an organization that has become a vital lifeline for new African migrants navigating the complex processes of immigration, resource access, and housing, are in desperate need of interpretation services for the 300 clients they serve daily! Although currently, there exists the AfriLingual coop supported by MOIA, this service is not enough to interpret on behalf of over 40,000 new African asylum seekers. 

Our Solution:

This program addresses both of these problems by training and paying multilingual asylum seekers to be interpreters in order to help other asylum seekers access social services. Displaced people with niche language acquisition and lived experience are uniquely qualified for this work, yet they often lack access to professional pathways to develop their careers, either as interpreters or in related fields. This program provides workforce development for immigrant social services, professional interpretation training, employment experience in the United States, work references, letters of recommendation, and capacity building to help multilingual asylum seekers build their careers while receiving income. The work is flexible and scalable, allowing participants to gain experience and earn income while they build their careers, attend school, or open businesses. This is critical as African asylum seekers have difficulties participating in workforce development programs as they are not offered in the languages in most demand from the community. 

The program enables participants to provide interpretation to help other asylum seekers to navigate the system in languages not covered by New York’s existing language access policy, such as Wolof and Pulaar. The participants will help asylum seekers fill out I-589 asylum application form, and apply for housing, SNAP food benefits, health insurance, and work authorization.

Background:

Afrikana stands as a beacon of hope and support for new arrivals to NYC seeking refuge and a chance at a new life. Founded in response to the increasing influx of asylum seekers at Port Authority, the organization operates out of two adjacent storefronts in Harlem, serving as a much-needed advocate and resource for all migrants, including newcomers from the continent of Africa, addressing language barriers, disparities in shelter placements, and limited free immigration legal services.

The Refugee Translation Project is a non-profit dedicated to helping refugees transition to a life of safety and security by providing free translation services to people seeking asylum and other immigration relief, increasing access to vital resources, and offering training and employment opportunities to asylum seekers.