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Vivian Ooi works with Judge Bill Cook, not pictured, as the Decatur Municipal Court Spanish translator.
Decatur court, attorney rely on Spanish translators

By Chris Paschenko
chris@decaturdaily.com· 340-2442

About six years ago, Decatur Municipal Court Judge Bill Cook said that he realized his Spanish skills weren't a substitute for a courtroom interpreter.

Cook said he tried to tell a defendant in Spanish that he would be able to leave the courtroom soon, but Cook's instructions were lost in the translation. After listening to the judge, the defendant fidgeted in his chair and looked toward the door.

"It's a humorous story," Cook said. "What I actually said was, 'If you want to leave, you'd better run quickly.' I realized I really needed someone to help me with interpretation."

When Cook began hearing cases in Decatur 10 years ago he didn't need an interpreter. Today the city employs two, Vivian Ooi, a native of Peru who has a doctorate in law and political science, and Lourdes Day, a Mexican native with a business administration degree.

The women assist Spanish-speaking defendants, victims and witnesses, Cook said, keeping them busy with court proceedings and duties at the magistrate's office.

The need for interpreters in the legal system arose from an increase in Decatur's Hispanic population over the past 10 years.

Census inaccurate?

The latest calculation available from the U.S. Census Bureau lists Decatur's 2000 Hispanic population at 5.6 percent of the city's 53,929 residents. City officials believe the actual number is much higher.

Lt. Col. Ken Collier, head of police investigations, has been a police officer in Decatur for 36 years. He noticed a Hispanic influx of mostly farm and poultry-industry workers in the 1990s.

"There could be a 7 to 10 percent Hispanic population in Decatur," Collier said. "The Hispanic community was very small in the 1990 census, at less than 1 percent, which was probably pretty accurate."

Cook said the Hispanic community is a difficult population to count.

"A lot of people are intimidated about participating in a census," he said. "Ten percent is a realistic estimate. I guess at 6,000 to 8,000. We are seeing more new people come into the court system that we've not seen before. It's obviously increased the case load."

Decatur police officer Sal Jasso said most undocumented Hispanics probably filed census papers in the trash.

"They're afraid they'll get deported if they send it in," Jasso said. "The census numbers are highly inaccurate. Not one Hispanic I know filled out a form."

Jasso said he believes the Hispanic population could be 8 to 11 percent in Decatur.

"When I'm driving down the road, I'm going to pass a Hispanic," Jasso said. "I see them walking on the street here in large numbers, more than we think."
Where interpretation was an obstacle a decade ago, the latest courtroom hurdle is ensuring defendants are who they say they are.

"Over the years it's complicated the court process and is a large barrier," Cook said. "There are a number of cases where people are without valid legal documents, or they have an inability to obtain a driver license. Local government is powerless when trying to deal with federal policy, and this is where federal policy is being played out."

Lt. Chris Mathews, who supervises the city jail, is working on a system that could help better identify repeat offenders who are undocumented.

"We occasionally have issues with identifying a person, but it's not limited to Latinos," Mathews said. "We have people of all races who will try and give false names when being booked in. To combat this tactic, I am working on a proposal for an electronic fingerprinting system."

Mathews said the system would replace the ink and paper method.

"The person's fingers would be placed on a scanning pad, and the fingerprints are entered electronically into a computer database," he said. "If that person is ever booked into the facility again, the fingerprints will be compared with all fingerprints currently in the system. They'll have a difficult time trying to use a false name, because the fingerprints will be cross-referenced."

Spanish-speaking lawyers

Cook said a lack of Spanish-speaking lawyers is another hurdle when hearing the gamut of misdemeanor cases on his dockets. Among the 30 pages of attorney advertisements in Decatur's phone book, not one purports knowledge of a language other than English.

But two firms advertise under the immigration and naturalization listing.

One is from Huntsville and the other is Decatur lawyer Allen R. Stoner.

Stoner said it is hard to gauge what percentage of his client base is Hispanic. Providing immigration and naturalization assistance is only one of his specialties, he said, but the vast majority, seeking that assistance, is Hispanic.

"Those who enter the country illegally are often referred to as illegal aliens or illegal immigrants," Stoner said. "Undocumented is the correct term. Undocumented means you've crossed over a border without going through a checkpoint."
Stoner said many undocumented people are married to American citizens.

"Immigration officials want to make sure the marriages are legitimate and not just out of convenience," he said. "And under that circumstance, they're seeking an adjustment in status. For those who are undocumented, (marriage) is the only way. At the point where their status is adjusted, they're required to pay fines and go through the process, but their status can be adjusted."

Stoner said he's trying to learn Spanish. He doesn't know of any Decatur lawyers who speak the language fluently. He said his assistant, Debbie Rogers, who grew up with her missionary family in Mexico, is his translator.

"My family took me to Mexico when I was 3 years old," Rogers said. "I was on the mission field for 31 years. I grew up fluent in English and Spanish and taught English as a second language 11 years prior to coming here."

Rogers said she came to Decatur because a local church supported her family's work in Mexico.

"Out of maybe 10 phone calls I receive in the office, maybe six are Hispanics," Rogers said. "One of our main selling points is they find an attorney willing to be honest with them, and they can trust me."

Stoner said Hispanics distrusted immigration attorneys after some notorious notaries set up shop in the Tennessee Valley.

"They said they would file immigration papers and took these people for a ride," Stoner said.

Rogers said one of the reasons Hispanics identify with her is she didn't learn Spanish in college.

"I grew up on the same ground and understand their culture," she said.

Rogers said Hispanic culture at times conflicts with U.S. law.

"I understand why they get a (driving-under-the-influence citation)," she said. "In their culture, they can buy a case of beer and drink it along the way."