--- title: "ICE Is Using Busted Translation AI That Can’t Understand Detainees" description: "Lost in Translation Bad AI has a price — and in the case of the United States immigration system, that price could cost people their freedom. As The Guardian reports, immigration officials have been instructed to use free programs like Google Translate or Microsoft Translate to communicate with the people they detain, which can result in […]" date: "2023-09-10" modified: "2023-09-10" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/immigration-ai-services" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "google translate" - "immigration" - "the digest" - "translation" --- # ICE Is Using Busted Translation AI That Can’t Understand Detainees ![Bad AI has a price — and in the case of the United States immigration system's translation AI, that price could cost people their freedom. ]() *NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JUNE 6: An ICE agent monitors hundreds of asylum seekers being processed upon entering the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building on June 6, 2023 in New York City. New York City has provided sanctuary to over 46,000 asylum seekers since 2013, when the city passed a law prohibiting city agencies from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement agencies unless there is a warrant for the person's arrest.(Photo by David Dee Delgado/Getty Images) \Image: David Dee Delgado via Getty Images\* ## Lost in Translation Bad AI has a price — and in the case of the United States immigration system, that price could cost people their freedom. As [*The Guardian* reports](), immigration officials have been instructed to use free programs like Google Translate or Microsoft Translator to communicate with the people they detain, which can result in inaccurate or confusing information being given to detainees or put down on their applications. One agency, Customs and Border Patrol, has created its own translation app, known as "CBP One," but as the report notes, it can only translate to and from a handful of languages, and even in the tongues it recognizes, there are errors. The report cites a number of examples of this effect, from an FAQ page being transformed into a string of letters when the app is asked to translate into Haitian Creole to asylum applicants being denied because of small grammatical discrepancies. In one such case recounted by Ariel Koren, the founder of the Respond Crisis Translation emergency interpreter network, an asylum-seeker who was trying to flee her abusive father described the man in colloquial Spanish as "mi jefe," which the translation app took literally to mean her "boss." Her application for asylum was thusly denied. "Not only do the asylum applications have to be translated, but the government will frequently weaponize small language technicalities to justify deporting someone," Koren, who once worked at Google Translate, told *The Guardian*. "The application needs to be absolutely perfect." ## Dialectics If things are that bad for Spanish speakers, one can imagine they're worse for those who speak lesser-known dialects. Indeed, as Respond Crisis Translation told *The Guardian,* there are often issues across agencies and translation apps for Afghan refugees who speak Dari, one of the region's two major dialects. Google Translate, the report notes, doesn't recognize Dari at all. "Afghan languages are not highly resourced in terms of technology, in particular local dialects," Uma Mirkhail, RCT's lead for Afghan languages, told the British newspaper. "It’s almost impossible for a machine to convey the same message that a professional interpreter with awareness about the country of origin can do, including cultural context." With systemic biases against non-English speakers in both [government]() and [machine learning]() abounding, it's heartbreaking but not surprising that the tools meant to help immigration officials and the people under their charge communicate end up causing harm and headaches. "AI translation tools should never be used in a way that is unsupervised," Koren, the RCT founder, said. "They should never be used to replace translators and interpreters and they should not be used in high-stakes situations — not in any language and especially not for languages that are marginalized." **More on AI fails:** [*Gannett Promised to Be Super Responsible With AI Before Completely Bungling It*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()