The following post appears courtesy of
Deeana Jang, Chief of the Federal Coordination and Compliance Section of the
Civil Rights Division.
“It seems obvious that the Chinese-speaking minority receive fewer benefits than the English-speaking majority from respondents’ school system, which denies them a meaningful opportunity to participate in the educational program — all earmarks of the discrimination banned by the regulations.” – U.S. Supreme Court Justice Douglas for the majority, Lau v. Nichols, 414 U.S. 563 (1974)
Though it’s been nearly 40 years since
the Lau decision – a landmark ruling that expanded the rights of non-English
speaking students in America, language access still remains a critical civil
rights issue today for Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, and other immigrant
communities. In 2010, over 25 million
individuals – about 9% of the U.S. population over age 5 – reported having
limited English proficiency. And for over
two-thirds of Asian Americans and nearly one-third of Native Hawaiians and
Pacific Islanders, English is not spoken at
home.
In an effort to address the persistent
challenges facing limited English proficient (LEP) communities across the
nation, the Federal Coordination and Compliance Section (FCS) in the Civil
Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has done remarkable
work to improve language access in federal and federally-assisted programs and
activities. Under Title VI of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964, it’s illegal for any federally-assisted program to
discriminate based on race, color, or national origin. These protections extend to individuals with
limited English proficiency. These
protections also apply to the federal government’s own programs, under an
Executive Order issued by President Clinton in 2000. The many and varied
programs that the federal government runs – from disaster preparedness,
response, and recovery to Medicare and Social Security, to naturalization and
immigration proceedings, tax collection matters, and law enforcement action –
must also ensure access for LEP individuals.
At the Department of Justice, FCS has
jurisdiction to address allegations of discrimination along these lines. Along with a component of the Office of
Justice Programs – known as the Office for Civil Rights – FCS ensures that
recipients of DOJ grants – including the vast majority of police departments,
state courts, and state and local correctional facilities and jails – comply
with all applicable protections.
This means ensuring that law enforcement
officials don’t permit race, color, or national origin to influence or affect
their investigative work – and that LEP individuals don’t receive fewer
protections than their English-speaking counterparts. It means working to guarantee that courts
don’t discriminate or allow legal proceedings to move forward without a qualified
interpreter for LEP individuals. And in
our nation’s correctional system, it means lowering communication barriers
between staff and LEP inmates, while prohibiting a broad range of
discriminatory practices. After all, as
Tom Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, recently
said: “[i]t is essential as a safety matter and as a civil rights matter for
officials who administer a jail to ensure that employees can effectively
communicate with prisoners who have limited English skills.”
In each of these areas, I am proud of
the strong track record that the Justice Department has established – and
continues to build upon – in the vital work of improving access for the LEP
community in police departments, courthouses, and correctional facilities all
across the country. I am confident that
we will continue to raise awareness, while vigorously and consistently
enforcing our civil rights laws whenever and wherever appropriate.
I’m particularly grateful for the
leadership that Attorney General Holder has shown in translating this
commitment into action. In 2010, the
Attorney General called for the creation of a Departmental Language Access
Working Group to develop, implement, and monitor the Department’s LEP
plan. This past March, we posted our
language access plan, and nearly 30 Department components – including the Civil
Rights Division – have developed and are currently in the process of
implementing plans and procedures to ensure our ability to communicate clearly
and effectively with LEP persons.
Perhaps most importantly, the Attorney General has also taken the bold
step of calling upon all federal agencies to do the same, and has charged FCS
with leading these efforts across federal agencies.
As Chief of FCS, I am proud to help lead
this critical work for LEP communities in America. But helping the LEP community is not just my
professional mission – it’s also a personal one. From my experience volunteering and working
with a variety of nonprofits that serve Asian and Pacific Islander immigrant
communities, I understand the importance of our racial and ethnic diversity,
and I will strive to foster even greater inclusion for everybody living in
America.
No comments:
Post a Comment