Translation and interpreting services in Taos

Language access rules in New Mexico

Court interpreter program

Language Access Services (LAS) program of the New Mexico Administrative Office of the Courts, which coordinates and funds court interpreter and translation services and maintains the New Mexico Directory of Certified Court Interpreters and the Registry of Justice System Interpreters.

Court-certified languages

Fully certified court interpreters pass a multi-stage, nationally developed written and oral exam and may interpret in any proceeding, including for jurors; Justice System Interpreters complete a 24-week LAS program and oral exam and may interpret in most hearings but not for jurors. About 20 fully certified Spanish interpreters and a dozen JSIs work with the courts, and interpreting was provided in 87 languages in fiscal year 2025.

The rule

The Supreme Court's court interpreter rules (e.g., Rule 1-103 NMRA for civil cases, with parallel rules for criminal, magistrate, metropolitan, municipal, children's, and appellate courts, effective January 1, 2013) require the court to appoint a certified court interpreter whenever a case participant cannot hear, speak, or otherwise communicate in English well enough to fully participate, allow non-certified interpreters only in limited situations, and pay interpreter costs from the Jury and Witness Fee Fund.

Team interpreting in court

The court interpreter rules require a team of two interpreters for each spoken language when a proceeding is expected to last more than two hours, and a team of two signed language interpreters for each participant when a proceeding lasts more than one hour.

State agency language access plans (HB 22, 2022)

Laws 2022, Chapter 18 amended Section 9-1-5 NMSA 1978 to require every cabinet department secretary to develop and implement a plan for meaningful access for people with limited English proficiency, including an annual public needs assessment, interpretation and translation services, bilingual staffing, and an annual report to the governor and the Legislative Finance Committee.

Signed language interpreter licensure

New Mexico requires all signed language interpreters to be licensed by the Signed Language Interpreting Practices Board under the Regulation and Licensing Department, and practicing without a license is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 364 days in jail, a fine of up to $1,000, or both.

Most requested court languages

Requests for court interpreting reached about 50,300 hours in fiscal year 2025, more than double fiscal year 2021, and the five most requested languages were Spanish, American Sign Language, Navajo, Arabic, and Vietnamese.