Asylum Case and Interpreter

The past few days were spent getting feedback from our local asylum-seeking family and talking with the student lawyer and lawyer representing their case. They have so far been in two meetings with the lawyers and we are still figuring out the logistics of interpretation and avoiding mis-representation. At the first meeting I was interpreting for the father and while my Arabic is far from fluent, then we would go back and forth until I felt confident that I was completely conveying his sentiment and his actual words. It worked really well (and was personally very fulfilling), however, the lawyers were concerned that  was not a neutral party  and that my friendship with the family would invalidate their asylum case.

At last week's meeting the mother was alone at the session and as we had been told then she had an interpreter appointed by the lawyers. The mother left feeling totally violated and not properly represented in addition to the information the interpreter had give to her about her daughter's medical case properly not being ground for human parole (she might feel better and not be seriously ill) as well as relaying that the lawyers indicated the case was very weak and had not real ground. The mother was obviously very shaken up and when I spoke with the father several days later then he was still very nervous and now scared.

I called the student lawyer up and explained to her that the family was terrified and back to feeling mistrust. How could they be continuing to tell the truth if the interpreter was telling them their case was weak unless they had done specific acts or been involved in specific political acts when they had not? It dawned on me that basically the lives of the asylum seekers are in the hand of an interpreter so if that person has a personal or political agenda, then too bad. Not only is there a lot of space of deliberate misrepresentation and misleading, but also scarcity of words and lack of delivering the emotion of the story told can change the whole perspective. It is really scary to consider how a stranger can be set about to represent you and your family and you are at their mercy.

The lawyers thankfully quickly agreed to investigate getting another interpreter as they had also not been comfortable with the situation and the brevity of the interpreter's translations. It was a relief to find that they had had some of the same concerns and wanted the refugee family to feel safe and in good hands. For tomorrow's meeting, then they will try another interpreter and if things don't improve then I will suggest more strongly that we investigate getting a neutral interpreter from our broader community.

It all boils down to trust and delivery of the message. If the messenger can tell the story truthfully, then the asylum-seeking family has nothing to fear or worry about.