Bridging Barriers: Language, Culture, and Justice

What advice do you have for someone facing a civil legal issue like housing, employment, or family law who is unsure of where to turn for support, especially if they are concerned about their status?

Well, and so I think with family law, I think that sometimes it's difficult to be able to find a bilingual attorney who handles family law cases.

I think that it's important that you have someone who can speak your language.

Also, I think sometimes divorce cases can get contentious in a way that sometimes conceivably could have immigration consequences.

The other thing is that for...

For lots of people, when their marriage ends in divorce, lots of times there are situations of domestic violence or coercive control, I suppose, where people are victims of abuse, that those people are also aware.

that there are applications under the Violence Against Women Act, where rather than depend on that abusive U.S. citizen spouse, that you can self-petition for your permanent residence.

And so again, I think there are immigration consequences and considerations that need to be made in all sorts of different types of cases.

As far as landlord-tenant law, I think sometimes clients, because the leases aren't in their native language, That oftentimes there are difficulties there, miscommunications, misunderstandings, as far as whether or not you can have a pet, whether or not, how many people can live in the house.

And so there have been times in the past where clients have come to me with those types of legal problems as well.

So beyond just like language being kind of, you know, barrier one, are there any cultural or trust barriers that you've seen between the Hispanic community and their way of trying to access the justice system? You know, are they afraid of the court system or seeking services? I know you spoke about the chilling effect that it's having on particularly immigration and people filing affirmative cases.

Are there other issues or barriers that you're seeing that are keeping folks from seeking

help? Traditionally, we've always done workers' comp cases.

And so there's also some of that intimidation as well there, that someone is working as a roofer, they've worked for the same contractor for years, they fall off a roof and hurt themselves.

And then that's when the insurance company and the roofing company decide to check their immigration status.

and say, oh, well, we had no idea that this person was undocumented.

Unfortunately, now we're going to try and use this as an excuse not to pay your weekly checks while you're incapacitated, or we can't settle with you because you're undocumented.

And so I think sometimes I've had clients in the past that are intimidated or nervous about trying to be able to file those types of claims, that somehow it could get reported back to an authority where they could potentially be arrested or deported.

And so I think sometimes, yes, those types of situations can be intimidating for clients, and sometimes they can be hesitant to access the courts to be able to get justice, for sure.

What advice do you have for someone facing a civil legal issue like housing, employment, or family law who is unsure of where to turn for support, especially if they are concerned about their status?

Well, and so I think with family law, I think that sometimes it's difficult to be able to find a bilingual attorney who handles family law cases.

I think that it's important that you have someone who can speak your language.

Also, I think sometimes divorce cases can get contentious in a way that sometimes conceivably could have immigration consequences.

The other thing is that for...

For lots of people, when their marriage ends in divorce, lots of times there are situations of domestic violence or coercive control, I suppose, where people are victims of abuse, that those people are also aware.

that there are applications under the Violence Against Women Act, where rather than depend on that abusive U.S. citizen spouse, that you can self-petition for your permanent residence.

And so again, I think there are immigration consequences and considerations that need to be made in all sorts of different types of cases.

As far as landlord-tenant law, I think sometimes clients, because the leases aren't in their native language, That oftentimes there are difficulties there, miscommunications, misunderstandings, as far as whether or not you can have a pet, whether or not, how many people can live in the house.

And so there have been times in the past where clients have come to me with those types of legal problems as well.

So beyond just like language being kind of, you know, barrier one, are there any cultural or trust barriers that you've seen between the Hispanic community and their way of trying to access the justice system? You know, are they afraid of the court system or seeking services? I know you spoke about the chilling effect that it's having on particularly immigration and people filing affirmative cases.

Are there other issues or barriers that you're seeing that are keeping folks from seeking

help? Traditionally, we've always done workers' comp cases.

And so there's also some of that intimidation as well there, that someone is working as a roofer, they've worked for the same contractor for years, they fall off a roof and hurt themselves.

And then that's when the insurance company and the roofing company decide to check their immigration status.

and say, oh, well, we had no idea that this person was undocumented.

Unfortunately, now we're going to try and use this as an excuse not to pay your weekly checks while you're incapacitated, or we can't settle with you because you're undocumented.

And so I think sometimes I've had clients in the past that are intimidated or nervous about trying to be able to file those types of claims, that somehow it could get reported back to an authority where they could potentially be arrested or deported.

And so I think sometimes, yes, those types of situations can be intimidating for clients, and sometimes they can be hesitant to access the courts to be able to get justice, for sure.