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Complaint: Court Sentences Latinos to Costly English Classes [View all]
Source: Associated Press
Complaint: Court Sentences Latinos to Costly English Classes
By KEVIN MCGILL, ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW ORLEANS — Mar 30, 2016, 10:56 AM ET
A suburban New Orleans court discriminates against Latinos by charging them for inadequate English interpreters and making them attend overpriced, ineffective English classes as a condition of probation, the Southern Poverty Law Center said Wednesday in a letter to the U.S. Justice Department.
The SPLC complaint centers on practices in 1st Parish Court of Jefferson Parish, which handles traffic and misdemeanor cases. The complaint cites the experience of four people with limited English speaking abilities who said interpreters rushed them through proceedings and failed to adequately explain their cases.
In some instances, they did not fully understand what they were pleading guilty to, the complaint says. For instance, Omar Roman-Velasquez said interpreters rushed him through various court proceedings and he wound up pleading guilty to one offense — driving with an expired inspection sticker — that he would like to have disputed.
As a condition of probation, he and others were ordered to attend English class.
The class to which those with limited English abilities are sent, the complaint says, "does not usefully teach English."
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By KEVIN MCGILL, ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW ORLEANS — Mar 30, 2016, 10:56 AM ET
A suburban New Orleans court discriminates against Latinos by charging them for inadequate English interpreters and making them attend overpriced, ineffective English classes as a condition of probation, the Southern Poverty Law Center said Wednesday in a letter to the U.S. Justice Department.
The SPLC complaint centers on practices in 1st Parish Court of Jefferson Parish, which handles traffic and misdemeanor cases. The complaint cites the experience of four people with limited English speaking abilities who said interpreters rushed them through proceedings and failed to adequately explain their cases.
In some instances, they did not fully understand what they were pleading guilty to, the complaint says. For instance, Omar Roman-Velasquez said interpreters rushed him through various court proceedings and he wound up pleading guilty to one offense — driving with an expired inspection sticker — that he would like to have disputed.
As a condition of probation, he and others were ordered to attend English class.
The class to which those with limited English abilities are sent, the complaint says, "does not usefully teach English."
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Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/complaint-court-sentences-latinos-costly-english-classes-38027152
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