ATA Newsbriefs

An internal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) email raises new questions about the agency’s efforts to identify non-U.S. citizens who may be on state voter rolls or have cast ballots in the past.

In the email—which was sent last year—DHS personnel shared a 78-page document listing counties and states that offer election materials and ballots in non-English languages. The list of jurisdictions was attached alongside a Department of Justice criminal checklist outlining requirements for the prosecution of voter-related charges.

The email was included in materials released after the Democratic National Committee (DNC) filed suit over a public records request.

DHS said in a statement that anyone who votes illegally shouldn’t be able to “use a purported lack of knowledge” of English to avoid prosecution. In recent weeks, federal authorities have charged a number of individuals with alleged illegal voting.

Democrats fear the Trump administration’s efforts to root out noncitizen voters will entangle or intimidate eligible voters and reduce turnout in this year’s midterms.

The email worries Dan Freeman, the DNC’s litigation director and a former Department of Justice Voting Section attorney. “The logical inference that I think anyone would make is that they are thinking about the prosecution of federal election crimes in jurisdictions where elections are conducted in a language other than English.”

NPR (9/18/26) By Miles Parks, Jude Joffe-Block, and Ximena Bustillo

Read Full Article

The Massachusetts Office of the Child Advocate (OCA) released a new policy brief examining barriers to equitable access to state services for children and families who speak languages other than English.

More than a quarter of Massachusetts residents speak a language other than English at home, a rate that is growing faster than the national average. For children and families navigating child welfare, juvenile justice, behavioral health, and other state services, the ability to communicate effectively in the language they speak is essential to accessing and receiving quality care and support.

The OCA’s research, which focused specifically on state services delivered through contracted providers, found that children and families do not always have meaningful access to services in their language. In some cases, particularly when language-access resources are not readily available, the OCA found that children are asked to interpret for their parents or caregivers.

Alternatively, providers use unreliable translation/interpreting tools and/or rely on bilingual staff who are untrained in the appropriate area of expertise. This lack of expertise places children and their families in difficult and potentially harmful situations and compromises the accuracy and quality of information exchanged between families and providers.

“Language should not be an additional barrier to services that children and families need and deserve,” said OCA child advocate Marisol García. “Given the wide variety of state agency service providers and languages spoken in the Commonwealth, we need to work together to improve the accessibility of these services for individuals for whom English is not their first language.”

Office of the Child Advocate (9/22/26)

Read Full Article

The National Book Foundation has announced the Longlist for the 2026 National Book Award for Translated Literature. The finalists in all five categories will be revealed on October 6 in The New York Times. Winners will be announced at the 77th National Book Awards Ceremony and Benefit Dinner on November 18, 2026.

The 10 titles on this year’s Translated Literature Longlist were originally published in seven languages: Arabic, Chinese, French, Indonesian—appearing for the first time as a translated language in the category—Norwegian, Russian, and Spanish. The list features nine novels and a work of nonfiction, and several of this year’s honored authors and translators have been previously recognized by the National Book Award for Translated Literature.

Publishers submitted a total of 159 books for this year’s award. The judges for Translated Literature are Shelley Fairweather-Vega (an ATA member), Javier García del Moral, John Keene, Christopher Merrill (chair), and Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi.

National Book Foundation (9/15/26)

Read Full Article

Mexico’s Supreme Court has ruled that Indigenous people are entitled to an interpreter from the moment they come into contact with criminal justice authorities, even if they have not yet been formally accused.

By a unanimous vote, the court established that the right to interpreter assistance is non-waivable and must be guaranteed throughout the entire proceedings so that Indigenous people are not left defenseless.

“The right of Indigenous people to be assisted by an interpreter is triggered from the first contact with the authorities, even when a person appears as a witness or as someone providing information and not as the accused,” Justice Loretta Ortiz Ahlf, author of the ruling, said.

Justice Giovani Figueroa Mejía stressed that guaranteeing that right “ensures that every Indigenous person can use their own identity when appearing for the first time before judicial authorities under equal conditions.”

Riviera Maya News & Events (9/4/26) By Javier Mendez

Read Full Article

Peter Llewellyn-Jones, 76, was an interpreter and teacher who helped establish sign language interpreting as a recognized profession in Britain. Throughout his working life, Llewellyn-Jones devoted himself to improving accessibility and opportunity for Deaf people.

Llewellyn-Jones became a pioneer in the teaching of British Sign Language interpreting and linguistics and developed the U.K.’s first undergraduate degree course in the subject for the University of Wolverhampton in 1992. He was also instrumental in developing sign language interpreting for British television and bringing it to the stage. Beginning in the early 1980s, he worked on 600 professional theater productions across the U.K.

One of the earliest to interpret for productions of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), he worked on RSC main house shows and tours from 1991 to 2000, interpreting alongside Vanessa Redgrave, Kenneth Branagh, Jim Broadbent, and Ian McKellen, among others.

Llewellyn-Jones was also an accomplished actor and writer. He co-wrote and co-presented the second series of Insight (1984), a groundbreaking television program for Deaf children, in which he acted and signed. He also played Mr. Grimley in the children’s television series The Riddlers, which ran from 1989 to 1998.

The Guardian (9/15/26)

Read Full Article