Interpreting for immigration: A profound impact

A small act can make a huge difference. A group of seven Heidelberg students and their Spanish professor, Dr. Cynthia Lepeley, will learn just how big when they travel to south Texas in May to volunteer as interpreters at an immigration detention center. The students – Esmeralda Salazar, Aline Rojas, Bianca Torres, Alexis Mendoza, Samantha Escalera, Evelyn Gonzalez and Ellen Gonzalez Jacquez -- will spend a week at a Dilley, Texas, detention center, working with the Cara Pro Bono organization. They are enrolled in an independent study class to get ready.

According to Cindy, Cara Pro Bono provides attorneys who assist women and children with preparing for their “credible fear” interviews, the first step in the process as the women seek asylum in the U.S. “Not all of the attorneys speak Spanish, so we are going to volunteer to interpret for them,” she explains. The students – all of whom are native Spanish speakers – will work alongside the attorneys 12 hours a day for a week as they try to determine why the women are seeking asylum. They’ll inquire about the situation that caused them to flee from their homes and why they believe it’s unsafe to return. Most of the detainees have fled from violence in Central American countries.

Read more about the magnitude of their work.