Stepped Up Drive Against Illegal Immigrants Causes Shortage Of Court Interpreters

November 19, 2008 10:38 a.m. EST

AHN Staff

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - With a record number of illegal immigrant arrests made by federal and state officials in the past few months, the number of deportation and other migrant-related cases have risen also.

It led to a shortage of court interpreters. According to Wanda Romberger, manager of court interpreting services of the National Center for State Courts, almost all states have reported lack of certified interpreters, particularly those adept in foreign languages other than Spanish.

The National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators has 3,000 certified interpreters on its list, but only 500 are experts in foreign tongues aside from Spanish. While there are no data on how many extra translators are needed by courts nationwide with the rise in immigration cases, the 2007 report of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts said there was a 17 percent rise in number of court hearings from October 2006 to September 2007 that required a translator involving115 languages.

About 95 percent of the immigration cases, though, require the services of Spanish language translators. The shortage has forced courts to hire the services of freelance interpreters who may not be qualified to do the job and may adversely affect the results of the court cases.

Federal certified or qualified court interpreters make $376 a day, while freelancers and uncertified translators are paid only $181 daily, according to the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts.

Meanwhile, political observers are waiting who will be appointed by President-elect Barack Obama as Homeland Security Secretary, who will take charge of how to solve the country's continuously growing illegal immigration problem. The new secretary will be in charge of a $40 billion budget and 200,000 employees who are trying to run after millions of undocumented aliens in the U.S.

Among the names being bandied around as the new Homeland Security secretary are ex-counterterrorism adviser Richard Clarke, former Congressman Timothy Roemer, ex-Senator Gary Hart, retired Navy secretary Richard Danzig, U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen and retired Air Force Gen. Ralph Eberhart.
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