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

这项拟议的研究通过一个民族志案例研究，考察口译服务的匮乏如何影响移民法院诉诸司法的途径。尽管受访者有权在所有听证会上请到口译员，但为较少使用的语言或稀有语言提供的口译服务很少。因此，受访者经常放弃口译服务。这项研究分析了法庭当局如何努力维护规定最佳做法的语言获取计划，而当地提供的高质量语言服务仍然有限。本研究通过第一人称访谈和对法庭程序的观察，将语言和交际理论应用于制度政策。在一年多的初步实地调查的基础上，这项研究观察到(1)口译资源的稀缺如何在法官、律师和非政府法律援助之间创造了一种劳动力经济，以帮助受访者理解诉讼程序；(2)语言服务有限的法庭空间使移民法官能够创新沟通策略，以弥补受访者理解方面的差距；(3)在有限的资源压力下，法官依赖机构和个人对语言的信念和语言理解，来决定是否需要口译服务。移民法庭的这项长期的人种学研究将通过审查移民裁决中语言获取的关键组成部分，为关于流动性和公民身份的社会法学和人类学学术做出贡献。

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.