Hawaii addresses shortage of court interpreters for migrants

HONOLULU;  Hawaii faces a growing
challenge finding people who can translate
court hearings as the number of migrants
from Pacific Island countries climbs.

Officials say the state has a limited pool
of court interpreters ,and they often must
travel between the islands for proceedings.
creating logistical challenges.
 
The migrants come to Hawaii under an
agreement with the US  government,
The Compact of Free Association lets
citizens from the Federated States of
Micronesia,the Republic of  the Marshall
Islands and the Republic of Palau live
and work freely in the United States
in exchange for allowing  the US military
to control strategic land and water areas
in the region.

"The Pacific island languages are a really
hard one"said Debi  Tullang -De Silva
program director of the state Judicary's
Office on Equality and Access to the Courts.

So far no cases have been derailed because
of the shortage ,According to the state's court
system,in 2008 about 6,800 cases required
interpreting services and that figured jumped
to nearly 7,700 in 2012 ,There were more
than 8,200 interpreted proceedings in 2013
the  most recent year complete data are
available,AFP