FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

March 21, 2024

MEDIA CONTACT: 

e: brian.phillips@mail.house.gov

c: 202.913.0126

Washington, D.C. — Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke (NY-09) led 20 of her colleagues in a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and Deputy Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Patrick Lechleitner urging their respective agencies to address the urgent civil rights situation of Mauritanian asylum seekers and rare language speakers in ICE detention.

“Recent reports confirm that, in the past year alone, an increasing number of Mauritanians have fled to the United States to escape slavery, forced statelessness, race- and ethnicity-based human rights violations, police violence, and other persecution. In 2023, Mauritanians were the largest group of Africans encountered by immigration officials at the southern border. A majority of these individuals are Black and speak rare languages like Mauritanian Pulaar, Mauritanian Soninke and Hassaniya Arabic, and many cannot read or write in any language because of their exclusion from formal education in their home country,” wrote the members. “Detained Mauritanians – who are especially impacted by language isolation – have met systemic barriers throughout the asylum process. Numerous individuals and their respective advocates have reported deeply troubling trends including: ICE officers intimidating and forcing people to sign paperwork they do not understand; people going through their credible fear interviews in languages they cannot fully communicate in, often leading to expedited removal orders; people languishing in detention while their removal proceedings are stalled because the immigration court cannot locate an interpreter in their best language; people being utterly unable to communicate with anyone in detention, let alone seek release on bond or alternatives to detention; and, people being ordered removed because ICE provides no language services in detention, denying them the opportunity to complete their asylum application forms, which must be submitted in English.”

Read the full letter here.

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