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EOIR Language Access Plan

EOIR Language Access Plan
Language Access Plan

K - Monitoring and Updating the Plan, Policies, and Procedures

The LAWG will meet at least every other month to consider EOIR-wide language access issues, develop new initiatives, and draft an annual language access report for the Director and EOIR’s component heads. Ad hoc meetings will occur as necessary. Each component’s CLAC will also attend these meetings so that the CLACs can report on language access issues and complaints and consult on language access initiatives. The following sections outline how EOIR will monitor compliance with the Plan. 

1. Quality Control 

Providing quality and accurate language assistance services is critical to people with LEP who appear before EOIR for immigration proceedings. EOIR will ensure that all staff or contracted personnel who serve as interpreters for people with LEP during immigration proceedings: 

Demonstrate high proficiency in and ability to communicate information accurately in both English and the language in which the person with LEP is proficient. 

Identify and employ the appropriate mode of interpreting (e.g., consecutive, simultaneous, or sight translation [13]) and translating. 

Have command of both languages and knowledge of any specialized terms or concepts particular to EOIR’s adjudications and any particularized vocabulary used by the person with LEP. 

Understand and follow confidentiality, impartiality, and ethics rules. 

Understand and adhere to their role as interpreters or translators. 

To verify that staff interpreters comport with these principles, EOIR conducts mid-year and end-of-year evaluations for all interpreters through review and evaluation of recordings. EOIR provides staff interpreters with resources and facilitates ongoing training for all staff interpreters. 

EOIR incorporates quality control requirements, including periodic evaluations, into its language services contracts. Contract interpreters attend extensive training by the contracting company to provide EOIR-specific training and knowledge. Additionally, first-time contract interpreters are evaluated following their first substantive (merits hearing) interpretation and must meet a set standard to be permitted to continue interpreting under the contract. 

Absent an emergency situation, materials that will be posted on the internet will be translated by certified translators and undergo a quality assurance process prior to posting. When EOIR contracts for additional language services, EOIR will ensure that any contracts clearly include quality control measures for any interpretations or translations provided. 

2. Tracking and Reporting 

Immigration court staff will continue to track languages used during hearings through EOIR’s case management system. EOIR’s Planning, Analysis, and Statistics Division will continue to use this entered information to track EOIR’s encounters with people with LEP during immigration proceedings and provide requested reports to the LAWG or other stakeholders. The LSU will also continue to track the usage of contract interpreters. The Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Office (OCAHO) will continue to track encounters with people with LEP during OCAHO proceedings. EOIR’s data from the recent past appears in section III(C) above. Because the vast majority of EOIR’s LEP contact occurs during immigration proceedings, EOIR anticipates using this type of data in the future to guide language access initiatives. EOIR also tracks its interactions with people with LEP when it provides them with a telephonic interpreter. Additionally, EOIR’s contracted legal service providers share language data with EOIR that they are continually collecting. 

The LAWG will draft an annual language access report including updated information on LEP person encounters before EOIR and language access initiatives from the prior year. As part of completing the annual report, EOIR’s LAWG will assess the Plan, determine the effectiveness of EOIR’s language assistance services, and submit any necessary recommendations to bring EOIR’s services in line with the Plan.

This may include: 

Conducting an inventory of languages most frequently encountered in the prior year to determine whether current language access initiatives sufficiently support EOIR’s populations. 

Evaluating the primary channels of contact with people with LEP (whether telephonic, in person, correspondence, web-based, etc.) and adjusting language access initiatives in response to changes. 

Reviewing: 

  • EOIR’s policies and practices for language accessibility 

  • EOIR’s language access initiatives 

  • The annual cost of translation and interpreter services  

Consulting with outside stakeholders. 

3. Updating the Language Access Plan 

Every five years, the LAWG will complete a comprehensive review and update of the Plan to reflect updated information regarding LEP communities, changing policies or procedures, and to ensure that it reflects EOIR’s ongoing commitment to providing people with LEP meaningful access to its services. 

 

 

 

[13] “Sight translation is the rendering of material written in one language into spoken speech in another language. It is a true and accurate verbal translation of written material into the spoken form so that the parties can understand what documents written in foreign languages say.” Modes of Interpreting: Simultaneous, Consecutive & Sight Translation, National Association of Judiciary Interpreters & Translators (May 15, 2006), Modes_of_Interpreting200609.pdf (najit.org)