Working with Detained Immigrants in Removal Proceedings: Training Tips for Healthcare Interpreters

This webinar aims to give trainers an orientation to the complex and challenging environments where the provision of legal, healthcare, and linguistic access for detained people with limited English proficiency are inextricably entwined.

Presenters will provide an overview of the legal entities and processes involved when an immigrant is detained, the most common types of applications for relief from deportation, and how healthcare interpreters play a critical role in the transfer of reliable communication between medical providers, attorneys, and clients. This includes communication for accurate treatment, documenting existing conditions including psychological assessments, and the transfer of information to clients. Issues related to interpreting will include preparing for the encounter, ethics, clinical domains and technical areas, interpreting for minors, self-care and business and activism advice.

Learning Objectives:

1) Understanding general legal and access issues for this population

2) Learning social and healthcare issues (physical and psychological) related to undocumented immigrants in detention and/or removal proceedings

3) Understand best interpreting practices and strategies for effective communication and establishing a meaningful rapport between clients, attorneys and healthcare providers

About the presenters:

Laura Belous, Esq. was born and raised in the Phoenix area. She graduated from Oberlin College with a degree in history and received her Master’s degree in Mexican American studies from the University of Arizona (UA) and her law degree from the College of Law at the UA. In 2010, she received an Equal Justice Works fellowship to join the Florence Project and represent clients with serious mental illnesses. She has worked with the Pima County Office of Children’s Counsel representing children in the custody of the Arizona Department of Children’s Services. In 2013, she returned to the Florence Project and mentored pro bono attorneys representing unaccompanied children and then worked as the Tucson Children’s Team managing attorney from 2014-2018. There, she practiced before USCIS, EOIR, the Board of Immigration Appeals, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. She has worked as an adjunct instructor at the James E. Rogers College of Law where she taught legal writing classes to first-year law students. Laura enjoys monsoons, lazy weekend mornings, playing the cello and spending time with her family. She became FIRRP’s advocacy attorney in December 2018.

Jaime Fatás-Cabeza MA, USCCI, CHI is Associate Professor of the Practice and Director of the undergraduate program in healthcare and legal interpreting and translation at the Spanish and Portuguese Department at the University of Arizona, where he also teaches medical Spanish to doctors in the Emergency, Family, Internal, and Behavioral medicine departments. He is certified by CCHI (Eng/Spa) and the United States Courts (Eng/Spa). He is a commissioner with CCHI is a member of NCIHC’s Home for Trainers Webinars Work Group. Jaime is a published translator and author. He translates and interprets regularly for academic publishers, biomedical research units, and legal services.