Fulani is not a “rare language” in Ohio. Ohio is home to a large population of people with roots in Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea, and Mali, among other African nations. Fulani is one of many indigenous languages spoken in thousands of Ohio homes. Said Birane Wane, an Ohio father deported to Mauritania during the first Trump administration, “Ohio is my second country.”
Writes Maryam Sy, Organizing Director with the Ohio Immigrant Alliance:
The Halpoular people, or Toucouleur as the French call them, are known to be keepers of their culture by preserving their authenticity throughout the centuries. The Toucouleur Empire was founded by my ancestor, Cheikh Oumar Foutiyou Tall who led the resistance against the French in the mid-19th century. The Poulaar language is a central part of their identity. Many Halpoular families prioritize teaching their children the language fluently, as it is seen as a key element of their cultural heritage and connection to their ancestors, actively preserving and protecting their culture, passing it down through generations via language, oral traditions, religious practices, and social customs. Despite the challenges posed by modernity and migration, they continue to maintain a strong sense of cultural identity.
According to an analysis from Sy, nearly 3,000 people with cases pending in Ohio’s only immigration court speak Fulani/Pulaar (names that are used interchangeably). That makes Fulani the third most common language in the Cleveland Immigration Court, after Spanish and Creole.
The beauty of the Fulani culture and people, who have moved throughout the world but maintain their families’ heritage and roots, is evident in Tariq Tarey‘s photos in “The Fulani Project.” He says:
I came about the idea of the project through meeting my friend, Mariama Ba, who as a first generation American has the appreciation of a culture that she came from but did not experience firsthand. Through her I was able to see the nuances of that culture and the significance of maintaining it within a country that forces assimilation. America can be a graveyard of languages and cultures, so it is essential to preserve the Fulani culture for future generations.
Fatima Barro is another Ohio leader working to make sure Fulani languages and culture are prioritized and protected. She writes:
A couple of months ago, I struggled to find online resources that educated me on my Fulani heritage and language. This challenge inspired me to create Demgalam—“My Language” in Fulani—a website dedicated to preserving and sharing Fulani language and culture.
Personally, my favorite feature is a word-recall tool for native speakers to rediscover Fulani words and keep the language alive. I’m hoping to expand Demgalam into a learning platform, as Fulani is not a language offered in your typical language learning application.
With Fulani being such a common language among immigrants in Ohio, though, the Cleveland Immigration Court has failed to understand core aspects of the language and culture — with dangerous outcomes for individuals seeking asylum. Here are some examples:
- A Fulani man was denied asylum in the Cleveland Immigration Court after being accused of providing inconsistent testimony. One example cited by the judge? His interpreter variously said he crossed the Senegal River in a “canoe” and a “little boat.” The word in Fulani is one and the same, “laama.” Their meanings are the same in common English, too.
- M.D. was deemed “not credible” and denied asylum because the judge said he had not proved he was Fulani and Black, a persecuted group in Mauritania. “I am the evidence,” he said. “I speak Fulani and I am Black.”
- In another court, A.T. was denied asylum after he encountered interpretation problems and attempted to answer questions for himself, in his beginner’s English. There are different dialects of Fulani, and people who speak the Mauritanian and Senegalese version are frequently forced to communicate through Guinean Fulani interpreters. The judge lashed out at A.T., accusing him of playing games with the court and speaking “like a teenager.” She denied his request for asylum.
Fulani dialects have significant differences, and this is an environment where every detail matters. In a 2021 case, the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit recognized that:
Small inconsistencies in a noncitizen’s testimony can doom even those cases that might otherwise warrant relief. To ensure testimony is not unfairly characterized as inconsistent, a noncitizen must be able to communicate effectively with the officials deciding his case. Because language barriers can make effective communication impossible, our Court has long recognized the importance of a competent interpreter to ensure the fairness of proceedings to individuals who do not speak English. But what happens if an immigration official does not make a meaningful effort to determine whether a noncitizen has limited proficiency in English?
….
We hold that B.C. was denied due process because the [Immigration Judge] did not conduct an adequate initial evaluation of whether an interpreter was needed and took no action even after the language barrier became apparent. Those failures resulted in a muddled record and appear to have impermissibly colored the agency’s adverse credibility determination. We therefore vacate the BIA’s decisions and remand for a new hearing on the merits of B.C.’s claims. On remand, the agency must also remedy other errors B.C. has identified, which include dealing with the corroborative evidence he submitted.
Third Circuit case law is not binding in Ohio, because immigration appeals in Ohio are under the jurisdiction of the Sixth Circuit. But this reasonable and clear explanation from the Third Circuit should inform court proceedings in Ohio, and everywhere.
Maryam Sy and other Fulani speakers have conducted interpreter reviews for immigrants appearing in court, because the problem of incorrect interpreters is so pervasive and profound. In fact, interpreters are not even required to demonstrate proficiency in Fulani, or to disclose their spoken dialect, throughout the application process. They can become certified in another language, such as French, and then used as interpreters in other languages they happen to speak — regardless of their proficiency in that language.
Writes Sy, about her experience as a language evaluator in the Cleveland Immigration Court:
The weight of the decisions made there can have such significant effects on people’s lives, that I always go with a sense of apprehension, feeling butterflies in my stomach. I guess my trauma with immigration is from personal experience and from the experience my husband had to endure as a Black Mauritanian man.
Immigration judges, in any court, must feel the weight of their decisions, too. What can they do?
- Confirm that the Fulani dialect spoken by court interpreters and respondents is the same, and they are able to communicate clearly with each other before proceeding.
- Ensure that the interpreter is fluent in both the relevant dialect of Fulani and the court’s English. As Sy has experienced, some interpreters struggle to communicate legal terms in either, or both, languages.
- Ensure pertinent details and facts spoken in Fulani are accurately captured in the hearing record. (See M.D.’s experience for a example of how courts have failed in this regard).
What can immigration lawyers do?
- Request, on the record, that immigration courts take these basic steps. If they are denied, document judges’ refusal to ensure language access in their courts.
- Hire language experts, like Sy, Afrilingual, and others, to help prepare their clients for court, make a plan for how to communicate about interpretation problems that come up during hearings, and observe court hearings to note miscommunications and interpretation inconsistencies.
- Raise problems with language access and communication on appeal.
Additional Reading
- Cleveland Immigration Court – Poulaar Interpreter Issues (Maryam Sy)
- Scarred, Then Barred: Immigration Courts Harm Black Mauritanian Refugees (Ohio Immigrant Alliance)
- The System Works As Designed: Immigration Law, Courts, and Consequences (Ohio Immigrant Alliance)
- Dystopia, Then Deportation (Dr. Nana Afua Y. Brantuo, PhD)