A Mauritanian asylum seeker was denied refuge in the U.S. after a mistranslation in his court proceedings led to inconsistencies in his case, raising concerns about language access in the immigration system.

Mauritania is a country in northwest Africa, located on the Atlantic coast between Senegal and Western Sahara.

Thousands of Mauritanians have sought asylum in the United States in recent years because of factors including poverty, corruption, racial tensions, and the continued practice of slavery, despite it being outlawed in 2007.

Organizers say that cases like Muhamed Drame’s are an example of why language access is especially important in Arizona, the only state in the United States of America that still has laws requiring English-only teaching in the classrooms.

Even Latino refugees who travel across the border into the United States have to navigate through a primarily English-only court system, but in every jurisdiction, courts provide interpreters and translators for migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers when crossing the border.

“Every migrant, immigrant, and asylum-seeker has the right to an interpreter,” said Arizona Center for Empowerment founder Rocky Rivera. “Legal proceedings can’t continue without an interpreter present.”

Arizona’s courts are required to provide a Language Access Plan to “ensure that persons with limited English proficiency do not face any barriers accessing the court,” according to the court’s website.

“Language access is vital… it can save their lives,” said Dora Rodriguez, founder of Salvavision, an organization that aids in helping marginalized and displaced migrants, refugees, and those seeking asylum. “Close to 98% of the interpreters people request (through Salvavision) are Spanish-speaking.”

Drame is the first Mauritanian asylum seeker to come to Salvavision for help, first approaching the group last spring.

In late January before his first asylum hearing, he was given the opportunity to provide a written statement explaining his decision to flee Mauritania that would be considered by the judge as part of his request. When he arrived with his lawyer, Drame was met with an interpreter and a scribe, who wrote out his translated statement into English. There was just one problem.

“They gave me an interpreter of Fulani Guinea and I speak Fulani Mauritania,” Drame told me. “The interpreter had no idea what I was saying.”

Fulani, also known as Fula, is a part of the Niger-Congo language family spoken by an estimated 67 million people. Spoken across West Africa, the language dialects vary from Senegal, Guinea, Mauritania, Mali all the way to Chad and Sudan, where it is mostly used as a second language. Each dialect has different words and phrases, Drame explained.

Because the differences are subtle, Drame wasn’t aware that the interpreter spoke a different dialect of Fulani until he read the written report and immediately realized that it was not reflective of his real-life story. He asked his lawyer to make sure it would not be submitted to the court, writing a second written report on his own in French.

“I actually speak five languages; Fulani, Sénégal, Wolof, French, and a little English,” he said, adding that when he first arrived in the United States last year, he didn’t speak any English.

Drame said he thought the report written in French would be the only one considered by the judge, but learned during his second hearing last month that it had been submitted along with the rest of his case file.

An interpreter fluent in Drame’s dialect was present for his second hearing, telling Judge Gilda Terrazas about the previous misunderstanding. After breaking for a short recess, Terrazas denied Drame’s request, saying that she had found inconsistencies in his written and verbal reports.

The inconsistency centered around a reference to the anti-slavery group Initiative for Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement in one of his reports.

Terrazas said that Drame said he’d never heard of the group and did not know what the acronym “IRA-Mauritania” stood for, but that one of his reports referenced the acronym’s meaning. But it was unclear from the hearing which report contained the inconsistency.

Drame left the courtroom distraught and in a daze. 

“I sometimes wish my lawyer would tell me what to do and what not to do,” Drame said, walking to his car.

Hours later, he decided he would request another hearing, despite the $5,000 attorney fee associated with each appeal. Salvavision’s Rodriguez agreed that Drame should appeal the decision, saying that the group would be willing to help him cover some of the expenses.

“I hope he keeps fighting,” she said.

Drame is optimistic about his chances, saying that he feels like another appeal is his best option. If it doesn’t work out, he has other options for seeking asylum in North America.

“I have a cousin in Toronto, Canada,” he said.

Shortly after his inauguration, President Donald Trump signed an executive order making English the official language of the United States. Organizers say this is just another reason why language access and policy is needed more than ever.

“We are not surprised, we are prepared for this. It’s not political, it’s humanitarian. It’s about accountability and awareness,” Rivera said. “Migrants are not bad people. This is their home.”

Thatcher Warrick Hess is a graduate student in the University of Arizona's bilingual journalism program and and Tucson Spotlight intern. Contact him at twarrickhess@arizona.edu..

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