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Tragedy at the Border: A Call for Language Access

  • By: Lucero Gonzalez Alvarado
A great uncle and his nephew walking up a hill of their great great uncle's home. When Indigenous families decide to leave their territories, they leave history and generational family connections. This picture was taken in San Juan Ixcoy, Guatemala. Photo credit: Lucero Gonzalez Alvarado, December 29, 2022

In 2018, the tragic deaths of two migrant Maya children in U.S. custody—Jakelin Amei Rosmery Caal Maquin from the Maya Q’eqchi’Nation and Felipe Alonzo-Gomez from the Maya Chuj Nation—revealed the consequences of failing to provide services in the migrants’ Native Indigenous languages, as well as in languages they understand. 

Jakelin, who was only seven years old, died on December 8, 2018, two days after being taken into U.S. custody. A report published by The Nation revealed that Jakelin died from septic shock and cardiac arrest. She and her father were part of a group of 163 Guatemalans who surrendered to Border Patrol at a remote entry point in the New Mexico desert on the night of December 6, seeking political asylum in the so-called “United States”. Once in custody, they were given forms only in English, depriving them of their right to effective communication in their Native language.

Just one week later during an interview at Fox News, the then U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, Kirstjen M. Nielsen, stated that “this is just a very sad example of the dangers of this journey,” and added they “will continue to look into the situation.” 

Three weeks after Jakelin’s death, Felipe, who was only eight years old, died in custody as well. Felipe showed clear signs of distress—coughing, vomiting, and fever—but, without adequate language support, these symptoms were not properly communicated or addressed.

Maya territories and their bountiful soil in the lands Indigenous people leave to migrate. This picture was taken in San Juan Ixcoy, Guatemala. Photo credit: Lucero Gonzalez Alvarado, December 29, 2022

After their deaths, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) pledged to implement additional medical screenings for children in custody. However, in its year-long investigation into Felipe’s death, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) overlooked the significant role language played in the tragedy. The report ignored the fact that Felipe’s family primarily spoke Maya Chuj, not Spanish. According to a DHS affidavit, Felipe’s father was not provided with an interpreter, preventing him from communicating his son’s symptoms. This oversight raises serious concerns about the accuracy of DHS’s medical evaluations and highlights the broader issue of Indigenous identity erasure.

The deaths of Jakelin and Felipe begs the question: How many other Indigenous children’s lives have been put at risk due to being misidentified and denied the language access supposedly guaranteed by the DHS´s Language Access Plans? 

According to the Council on Foreign Relations, Guatemala accounted for the second largest proportion of migration, with 86,000 reaching the southwestern border reported between January and May 2024, following Mexico. However, data on the number of Maya Indigenous people from Guatemala remains unclear, primarily because the DHS does not distinguish Indigenous individuals from their non-Indigenous counterparts in its records. This lack of distinction complicates the accurate identification of Indigenous people in custody and leads to inadequate language support during their processing. 

On August 11, 2000, then-President Bill Clinton issued Executive Order 13166 mandating that federal agencies, including the DHS, provide meaningful access to services for individuals with Limited English Proficiency (LEP). The first Language Access Plan, developed in 2012, aimed to meet the guidance provided by DHS in April 2011. This guidance, titled “DHS Guidance to Federal Financial Assistance Recipients Regarding Title VI Prohibition Against National Origin Discrimination Affecting Limited English Proficient Persons,” stated “the LEP Plan establishes a language access policy for the Department and creates a system for providing meaningful access to LEP persons within DHS. The LEP Plan outlines the Department’s existing language access efforts and the additional measures DHS will take to enhance language services for LEP individuals across its operations, services, programs, and activities.” Yet in practice, the absence of language services for Indigenous children like Jakelin and Felipe not only jeopardizes their lives but also erases their cultural identities.

The outrage sparked by the deaths of Jakelin and Felipe highlighted the urgent need to address the systemic failures in providing appropriate language services to Indigenous migrants. 

As part of the 2023 Language Access Plan, the Department of Homeland Security collaborated with leaders from Indigenous migrant communities to develop its first-ever Indigenous Languages Plan. This initiative aims to improve language access for Indigenous migrants from Latin America engaging with DHS programs and services. However, whether this effort has fully resolved the long-standing issue of inadequate language services remains to be seen. 

Language access goes beyond translation; it’s about addressing the unique needs and rights of children detained at the border. It is not a privilege but a necessity. For Indigenous children in U.S. custody, it can be a matter of survival. Their stories serve as a stark reminder of the urgent need to protect the rights and lives of all children, particularly those from vulnerable and marginalized communities.

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About the Author

Lucero Gonzalez Alvarado is a Maya Q’anjob’al woman with a Masters Degree in Human Rights Practice and a Bachelor’s in Social Work. She has seven years of experience in social work and four years of human rights research. She currently works at Comunidad Maya Pixan Ixim (CMPI) as a full-time Program Manager for the Maya and Indigenous Peoples Human Rights Program, she also previously spent two years working on Human Rights Research with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous peoples, worked as a documentary research associate, and as a CMPI Human Rights DEI contractor.