Ali Rogin:
Joining me to discuss how translation technology is putting asylum seekers at risk is Andrew Deck, who wrote the investigative story, and Leila Lorenzo, policy director at Respond Crisis Translation, which provides translation services for migrants and refugees. Thank you both so much for joining me.
Andrew, I’m going to start with you. Why does the U.S. government say it’s using this technology, and what do we know about how widespread its uses.
Andrew Deck, Reporter, Rest of World: You know, in the U.S. as of December 2022, there was a backlog of 1.6 million asylum applications. And, you know, one way that this technology is framed is a way to speed up the processing of these applications.
But what our reporting bore out is that it’s also a way of kind of cutting corners in terms of cost, especially, that has long tail impact on the quality of translations, and that becomes concerning quickly when we’re dealing with the safety and security of incredibly vulnerable communities like Afghan refugees.
