Ruben Reyes

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Translator in the highlands of Guatemala to help migrants get stuck in US,> not Spanish

Guadalupe Vásquez Flores began working as A Translator for arrested immigrants and their lawyers in the US, You could not think to stop on her Younger Brother , Bryon.

Ms Vásquez Spent hours in long-distance calls from her home in the Guatemalan highlands, Spanish translation for migrants in Immigration and Customs Enforcement Detention centers in the United States , spoke only their indigenous language.

While most of the immigration lawyers Spanish and English and speak many different local dialects overlooked in Latin America , often by U.S. authorities.

But Bryon was One of the conditions of Detention , against his case for four months before being deported.

A place where You Says lose Hope

"My Brother , in prison, You lose Hope You lose faith," Says Ms Vásquez of the icy holding cells, where Bryon was held.

But he had a advantage over many of The Migrants , Ms Vásquez with: he spoke Spanish.

"I have. the cases of these people who have gone through the same things as him, but don't know How To speak Spanish "

"How are You going to ask for something? How are You going to tell someone when they are sick? "She asks.

it's part of a growing group of mostly Guatemalan women, who translate for imprisoned indigenous-speaking migrants.

the translation - The Ability to communicate Can mean life or death for some inmates boost in the US with the ever-changing maze of the asylum to the right.

Voiceless

The project, the project promoter, the began of migrants liberation, in the year 2016, not to hear, as a co-founder of Ana Gómez and activist friend working with migrant-aid organizations, which began in the American prisons, the stories of indigenous Guatemalans, who were detained, to communicate for weeks, sometimes months to be able to.

The Group has grown and between its members speak 22 Guatemalan Mayan languages

There are 25 protected indigenous languages in Guatemala, The Most common of which, Mam, and Quiché, in turn, have many different dialects.

In 2016, Ms Gómez began the compilation of a group of women across the country, speaking Spanish, an indigenous language. Between them, The Women 22 Guatemalan Maya languages, and a handful of Mexicans and African speaking languages Caribbean indigenous.

The Group started cost-free translations for women, but as a US President, Donald Trump adopted its "Zero Tolerance policy" and rolled with increasingly stringent rules for the Detention of migrants, it soon expanded, to always help, children and men.

The Band of a common language

Ms Gomez said that listening to the language, after many months in Detention , an extremely strong connection between The Migrants and The Translator Can .

prisons distanced Can be places for those who do not speak either Spanish or English

Today, 115 Translator speckles rural communities in Guatemala to take calls from three different prisons in Pennsylvania and Texas.

You are working with Guatemalans in three Phases - to the right as You are arrested as they prepare the asylum procedure, and as migrants in Detention left.

In the talks, which The Translators often act as The Voice of the homeland, declared in the midst of fear and confusion, Ms Vásquez. She remembers talking with a Quiche-speaking Woman in prison with her baby, and who could not tell anyone for weeks that her son was sick.

"We don't know who we are, talk. Maybe we hear The Voice , understand your situation, but we will never find out who it is," She Says .

"is The Sense of helping is a little deeper. Because we don't know You yet, but we understand the case and support You . "

Surge in cases

- Translation-resources, such as the offering of The Women , are "totally inadequate" in the courts and prisons, Says Ruben Reyes , an Arizona-based immigration lawyer.

Mr. Reyes has seen a Surge of Central American migrants cases in The Past two to three years, as a violent Spike in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador . An estimated 540,000 people in Central America have fled from their homes in the year 2019.

In about 10 to 15% of the cases, Mr. Reyes Says the immigrants he Works with non-English or Spanish speaking. Most are from Guatemala, a country where almost half of the population indigenous is.

For many of these migrants, translators - The Ability to communicate, their cases, including credible fear, or previous cases of torture or political persecution - could be the difference between life and death.

Debilitating factor

"It has to be explained as a real, debilitating factor against indigenous migrant speakers in the immigration courts," Mr Reyes.

The Time That The Migrants in Detention to spend prolongued when no translators are available

A lack of translators and Surge protection in such cases, increases the complexity of the U.S. immigration court system, which has plagued the for years, due to a backlog of thousands of cases.

Those waiting to grow all the more dangerous than the Covid-19 pandemic strikes the U.S., and immigrant Detention facilities. Recent reports show that the facilities offer basic protective supplies such as masks and disinfectants, which has resulted in growing outbreaks in custody, including positive cases among the children with migrant background.

Mr Reyes Says that migrants and their lawyers to waive in some cases, on their rights, in order to accelerate A Translator of the cases, or You Can wait in limbo for A Translator who Can never come to be.

Ms Gomez and translators such as Ms Vásquez Hope to change the waiting period by the extension of the languages they translate and by working in more prisons.

Ms Vásquez Brother Bryon is now back in Guatemala, and She continues to translate, the phone calls with his history as a reminder of what it's like on The Other end of The Line .

Ms Vásquez Says , their goal is the strengthening of The Migrants , the foreign system, in which The Odds are stacked against You , regardless of whether You finally asylum in the United States or not. is

"We give them The Hope to continue to fight, to think in their languages, their belief, their nature, and to understand. "

You may be interested in:

us immigration, immigration, migration, guatemala

Source of news: bbc.com