African Language Program: Director Fallou Ngom as Forensic Linguist

THEY SCALE BARBED-WIRE FENCES, HIDE IN CROWDED FISHING BOATS, AND STOW AWAY IN CARGO TRUCKS. EACH YEAR, MORE THAN 800,000 MEN, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN CROSS INTERNATIONAL BORDERS SEEKING REFUGE FROM PERSECUTION.

Under the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, 145 nations have agreed to protect those who are at risk in their own countries because of war or persecution. If asylum seekers can prove their claim is “well founded,” they are granted refugee status. If they cannot prove they are fleeing legitimate persecution, they are deported. The challenge, says Associate Professor Fallou Ngom, is how to identify asylum seekers when “they do not have documents. They have only their mouths.”