Being arrested is terrifying. Being arrested when you cannot understand what is happening—or cannot communicate with your lawyer, the judge, or the prosecutor—is even worse. The same is true if your child is facing juvenile charges and you, as the parent, do not speak English.

Florida law guarantees you the right to an interpreter in criminal and juvenile delinquency cases. This article explains who qualifies, how to request an interpreter, and what to do if the court fails to provide one.

Your Rights Under Florida Law

Two Florida rules protect your right to understand and participate in your own case:

Rule 2.560 – Spoken Language Interpreters

Under Florida Rule of General Practice and Judicial Administration 2.560, the court must appoint an interpreter in any criminal or juvenile delinquency proceeding if:

• The accused cannot understand or has limited understanding of English
• The parent or legal guardian of an accused juvenile cannot understand English
• The victim or alleged victim cannot understand English

The word “must” is important. This is not discretionary. If you qualify, the court is required to provide an interpreter.

Rule 2.540 – ADA Accommodations (Deaf and Hard of Hearing)

If you are deaf or hard of hearing, Florida Rule of General Practice and Judicial Administration 2.540 requires the court to provide accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This includes:

• American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters
• CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) services
• Assistive listening devices
• Other auxiliary aids and services

These accommodations are provided at the court’s expense, not yours. Separately, § 90.6063, Florida Statutes, requires the court to appoint a qualified interpreter whenever a deaf person is a defendant, complainant, witness, or juror, paid from county funds.

Who Is Entitled to an Interpreter?

In criminal and juvenile delinquency cases, the following people are entitled to a court-appointed interpreter:

• The defendant – If you are the person facing charges, the court must ensure you understand every proceeding.
• Parents or guardians of juvenile defendants – If your child is facing juvenile delinquency charges, you have the right to understand what is happening.
• Victims and alleged victims – The court must also provide interpreters for victims who do not speak English.
• Witnesses – If a witness cannot testify in English, the court must provide an interpreter under the Florida Evidence Code (§ 90.606, Florida Statutes).

What About My Family Members?

If your spouse, parent, or other family member wants to attend your hearing but does not speak English or is deaf, they may be able to request accommodations depending on their role:

• If they are the victim – The court must provide an interpreter.
• If they are the parent of a juvenile defendant – The court must provide an interpreter.
• If they are a witness – The court must provide an interpreter when they testify.
• If they are a spectator with a disability – They may request ADA accommodations under Rule 2.540.

For ADA accommodations, the request should be made at least 7 days before the court date. Contact information for the court’s ADA coordinator is typically available on the circuit court’s website and on court notices.

Do Not Use Family Members as Interpreters

Here is why:

• They lack certification. Court interpreters must meet specific qualifications. An untrained interpreter can make critical errors that change the meaning of testimony.
• You risk compromising attorney-client privilege. Rule 2.560(g) protects communications made through a qualified interpreter. Using an unqualified interpreter endangers confidentiality.
• The State can use the interpretation against you. If the interpreter translates inaccurately, the State may use your own words—incorrectly translated—as evidence.
• The court must provide an interpreter. You should not have to solve this problem yourself. Insist on your right to a qualified interpreter.

How to Request an Interpreter

If You Have an Attorney

Tell your attorney immediately that you need an interpreter. Your attorney will notify the court and ensure one is provided for all hearings, depositions, and meetings.

If You Do Not Have an Attorney

Tell the court at your first appearance. The judge should ask if you need an interpreter. If no one asks, speak up. Say: “I need an interpreter. I do not speak English well enough to understand these proceedings.”

For ADA Accommodations (ASL, CART, Assistive Devices)

Under Rule 2.540, you should request ADA accommodations at least 7 days before your court date. The process is:

• Contact the court’s ADA coordinator (contact information is on court notices and the circuit website)
• Describe the accommodation you need (ASL interpreter, CART, etc.)
• Provide the date and location of your court hearing

If your court date is less than 7 days away, contact the ADA coordinator immediately. The court may waive the timing requirement.

What Languages Are Available?

Florida courts provide interpreters for many languages. The court prefers to use certified interpreters—professionals who have passed testing and meet specific qualifications. The need is large here. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s QuickFacts, 30.7 percent of Hillsborough County residents age 5 and older spoke a language other than English at home in the 2020 to 2024 American Community Survey, compared with 30.6 percent statewide. In Hillsborough County and throughout Florida, interpreters are commonly available for:

• Spanish
• Haitian Creole
• Portuguese
• Vietnamese
• Mandarin and Cantonese
• Arabic
• American Sign Language (ASL)
• Many other languages

If a certified interpreter is not available for your language, the court must still find a qualified interpreter. Under Rule 2.560(f)(3), a judge who appoints an interpreter in exceptional circumstances must first find on the record that the interpreter is competent.

What If the Court Does Not Provide an Interpreter?

If you requested an interpreter and the court failed to provide one, tell your attorney immediately. Proceeding without an interpreter when one is required can be grounds for appeal or other relief.

If you are a defendant and the court proceeds without ensuring you understand the proceedings, your constitutional rights may be violated. The right to understand your charges, the evidence against you, and the proceedings is fundamental to due process.

If you need a lawyer who speaks your language, learn about our Spanish-speaking criminal defense lawyer in Tampa.

For how this fits into the rest of a case, see our overview of how a Florida criminal case moves from investigation to appeal.

Frequently Asked Questions

About the Author

Tampa Criminal Attorney Rocky Brancato is the founder of The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., a Tampa criminal defense practice. With more than 25 years of experience—including service as Chief Operations Officer of the Hillsborough County Public Defender’s Office, where he oversaw a staff of over 100 attorneys, Rocky has handled thousands of criminal cases and understands the challenges that non-English speakers and individuals with disabilities face in the court system.

A language barrier should never decide your case. If you or a family member is facing criminal charges in Hillsborough, Pinellas, or Pasco County, call The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., founded by Tampa Criminal Defense Attorney Rocky Brancato, at (813) 727-7159 before your next court date. Our firm has Spanish-speaking staff, and attorney Jean-Luc Adrien speaks Spanish, Haitian Creole, and French.

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A.
620 E. Twiggs Street, Suite 205, Tampa, FL 33602
(813) 727-7159
Serving Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. is a Tampa-based criminal defense practice. We are not affiliated with any other Brancato-named law firms.

As founder of The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., a Tampa criminal defense firm, and a former police academy instructor who taught officers the law of stops and searches, I read Vasquez Perdomo as a case about the Fourth Amendment as much as immigration. Many Florida criminal cases now begin with an encounter involving an officer who also holds federal immigration authority. Our attorneys look at how every stop started, because a stop without reasonable suspicion can still lead to suppression of evidence in a Florida criminal case.

What Happened in Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo?

The case began as a challenge to immigration sweeps in the Los Angeles area in the summer of 2025. Pedro Vasquez Perdomo and other plaintiffs, along with immigrant rights groups, sued the Department of Homeland Security in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (No. 2:25-cv-05605). They alleged that agents were stopping people at bus stops, car washes, tow yards, farms, and day-labor sites based on how they looked, what language they spoke, where they were, and what work they did.

On July 11, 2025, District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong issued a temporary restraining order that barred stops based solely on four factors, alone or in combination:

1. Apparent race or ethnicity.
2. Speaking Spanish or speaking English with an accent.
3. Presence at a particular location, such as a bus stop, car wash, tow yard, day-labor pickup site, or agricultural site.
4. The type of work a person does.

The Ninth Circuit refused to stay that order on August 1, 2025. The government then asked the Supreme Court for emergency relief.

What Did the Supreme Court Decide?

The Supreme Court granted the government’s application and stayed the district court’s order. In Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo, 606 U.S. ___, 146 S. Ct. 1 (2025), the Court’s one-paragraph order stayed the July 11 order “pending the disposition of the appeal” in the Ninth Circuit and any timely petition for certiorari. The order did not explain the Court’s reasons, which is common for rulings on the emergency docket.

What Did Justice Kavanaugh’s Concurrence Say?

Justice Kavanaugh wrote that the four factors, taken together, can give agents reasonable suspicion of illegal presence in the Los Angeles area. He wrote: “To be clear, apparent ethnicity alone cannot furnish reasonable suspicion; under this Court’s case law regarding immigration stops, however, it can be a ‘relevant factor’ when considered along with other salient factors.” He relied on the high number of people in the Los Angeles region without legal status, which he put at “about 2 million illegal immigrants out of a total population of 20 million.”

He also described the stops as brief: “If the person is a U. S. citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States, that individual will be free to go after the brief encounter.” And he concluded that the plaintiffs likely lacked standing to seek a broad, forward-looking injunction under Los Angeles v. Lyons, because they could not show they were likely to be stopped again. Commentators have since used the term “Kavanaugh stop” for a brief immigration stop justified by a combination of these factors.

What Did Justice Sotomayor’s Dissent Say?

Justice Sotomayor, joined by Justices Kagan and Jackson, argued that stops based on the four factors violate the Fourth Amendment because they are not individualized. Quoting earlier precedent, she wrote that a set of facts cannot be reasonable suspicion if it “describe[s] a very large category of presumably innocent” people. She warned that the ruling pushes citizens to carry proof of status to move freely, which she described as creating a second-class citizenship status for people who look or sound a certain way.

How Does Vasquez Perdomo Fit With Brignoni-Ponce?

Vasquez Perdomo builds on a 50-year-old case about roving Border Patrol stops. In United States v. Brignoni-Ponce, 422 U.S. 873 (1975), Border Patrol officers in southern California stopped a car only because its three occupants appeared to be of Mexican descent. The Supreme Court held that officers on roving patrol need “specific articulable facts” supporting reasonable suspicion, and that Mexican ancestry “standing alone” does not justify a stop, though it can be “a relevant factor.” Justice Kavanaugh cited that “relevant factor” language; Justice Sotomayor cited the same case for its holding that appearance alone is not enough.

Scholars warned about this tension long before 2025. In “How Racial Profiling in America Became the Law of the Land: United States v. Brignoni-Ponce and Whren v. United States and the Need for Truly Rebellious Lawyering,” 98 Geo. L.J. 1005 (2010), presented at a Georgetown Law Journal symposium, then-Dean Kevin R. Johnson of UC Davis School of Law examined how Brignoni-Ponce’s “relevant factor” language and Whren’s tolerance of pretext stops left room for race to shape enforcement decisions.

Has the Supreme Court Said Anything About Race-Based Stops Since?

Yes. Three months later, in Trump v. Illinois, 607 U.S. 1 (2025), a December 23, 2025 decision about the National Guard deployment in Illinois, Justice Kavanaugh wrote in a concurrence that the Fourth Amendment requires that immigration stops “be based on reasonable suspicion of illegal presence, stops must be brief, arrests must be based on probable cause, and officers must not employ excessive force.” He added: “Moreover, the officers must not make interior immigration stops or arrests based on race or ethnicity.”

Where Does the Vasquez Perdomo Case Stand in 2026?

The Supreme Court’s stay is still the last word on the July 2025 restraining order, and the lawsuit continues in the district court. According to the Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse docket summary, the Ninth Circuit sent the case back in October 2025 so the district court could dissolve the Fourth Amendment portion of the restraining order. In 2026, the district court largely denied the government’s motion to dismiss, the plaintiffs filed a second amended complaint, and in June 2026 they moved for class certification and a new preliminary injunction against alleged warrantless arrests. As of the most recent docket update we reviewed, those motions had not been decided.

Does Vasquez Perdomo Apply in Florida?

The stay itself applies only to the Los Angeles order, but the reasoning reaches Florida because immigration enforcement here runs heavily through local police and sheriffs. Section 908.11, Florida Statutes, requires every sheriff or chief correctional officer operating a county jail to enter a written 287(g) agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which lets trained local officers perform certain immigration functions.

Participation goes well beyond county jails. A statewide snapshot posted by FDLE, the Immigration Agency Data Summary, which uses ICE and Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission data as of June 2026, shows that 272 of 394 Florida law enforcement agencies held a 287(g) Task Force Officer agreement, and that Florida had 9,026 credentialed designated immigration officers.

That means a stop in Tampa Bay may be made by an officer who can ask both criminal and immigration questions. Justice Kavanaugh’s later statement in Trump v. Illinois, that officers “must not make interior immigration stops or arrests based on race or ethnicity,” is a point our attorneys raise when the facts show appearance or language drove the stop.

Can Evidence From an Unlawful Immigration Stop Be Suppressed in Florida?

In a Florida criminal case, yes, evidence from a stop made without reasonable suspicion can be suppressed under the Fourth Amendment, no matter which agency made the stop. A traffic or street stop that leads to drugs, a weapon, or a no-valid-license charge rises or falls on what the officer knew before the stop. Our Tampa criminal traffic lawyer page covers the license charges that often follow these stops.

Immigration court is different. In INS v. Lopez-Mendoza, 468 U.S. 1032 (1984), the Supreme Court held that the exclusionary rule generally does not apply in civil deportation proceedings, while leaving open “egregious violations of Fourth Amendment or other liberties.” So a suppression win in state court does not automatically end an immigration case, and a person facing both needs advice on each. Our firm handles the Florida criminal case and works with the client’s immigration counsel.

What Should You Do If You Are Stopped and Questioned About Immigration Status?

Stay calm, do not run or resist, and do not lie or show false documents. You can ask whether you are free to leave. You can decline to answer questions about where you were born or your immigration status and say you want to speak with a lawyer, though a driver must still produce a license, registration, and proof of insurance on request in Florida. Remember the officer’s name, agency, and badge number, and write down what happened as soon as you can.

If a family member is arrested in Hillsborough County, language matters from the first hearing. Under section 903.046, Florida Statutes, immigration status is one of the factors a judge considers in setting bail, and in the 13th Judicial Circuit, the Court Interpreter Center provides interpreters for first appearance, arraignment, and trial. Our guides to how a bond hearing works in Tampa and to our Spanish-speaking criminal defense team explain what families can expect. For another recent Fourth Amendment decision, see our post on Case v. Montana and police welfare checks.

Frequently Asked Questions About Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo

Did the Supreme Court rule that ICE can use race in immigration stops?

No, the Court issued an unexplained stay, and Justice Kavanaugh’s concurrence said apparent ethnicity alone cannot furnish reasonable suspicion, though it can be one factor among others. The Brancato Law Firm reads the stop reports in our clients’ Florida cases to see whether anything beyond appearance or language supported the stop.

Is Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo a final decision?

No, it is an emergency stay that keeps the July 2025 restraining order on hold while the case continues in the lower courts. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm follow the litigation because a later ruling could change how courts view these stops.

What is a Kavanaugh stop?

A Kavanaugh stop is a commentator’s term for a brief immigration stop justified by a combination of factors such as location, type of work, language, and apparent ethnicity, based on Justice Kavanaugh’s concurrence. The Brancato Law Firm challenges the reasonable suspicion behind any stop that leads to a Florida criminal charge; see our criminal traffic defense page for license cases.

Do I have to answer an officer’s questions about my immigration status in Florida?

No, you generally have the right to remain silent and to ask for a lawyer, but you should not lie, run, or present false documents, and drivers must show a license on request. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm, including Spanish-speaking staff, can explain these rights to your family in their own language.

Can a U.S. citizen be detained in an immigration stop?

Yes, the stops allowed by the stay can involve U.S. citizens, and Justice Kavanaugh wrote that a citizen “will be free to go after the brief encounter.” The Brancato Law Firm advises clients who were detained to write down the details right away, because those facts matter if a criminal charge follows.

Can a Florida criminal case be dismissed because of an illegal stop?

Often the remedy is suppression of the evidence, which can lead the State to drop the charge if the evidence was its whole case. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm file motions to suppress in Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco County courts when a stop lacked reasonable suspicion; our Tampa criminal defense team can review the report.

For how this fits into the rest of a case, see our stage-by-stage guide to the Florida criminal case process.

Talk to a Tampa Defense Attorney After a Stop

If a stop led to an arrest, the first decision is whether to challenge how the officer made it, and that review should happen before the arraignment. Call The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., founded by Tampa Criminal Defense Attorney Rocky Brancato, at (813) 727-7159. You can call us at any hour, and our office is two blocks from the courthouse. Our firm has Spanish-speaking staff, and attorney Jean-Luc Adrien speaks Spanish, Haitian Creole, and French, so families can talk with us directly about the criminal case and its immigration consequences.

For more about our defense strategies, visit our Tampa Criminal Traffic Lawyer page.

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A.
620 E. Twiggs Street, Suite 205, Tampa, FL 33602
(813) 727-7159
Serving Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. is a Tampa-based criminal defense practice. We are not affiliated with any other Brancato-named law firms.

In Hillsborough County, almost one in three residents speaks a language other than English at home. For many of them, an arrest means trying to understand bond, charges, and deadlines through a stranger’s translation. I’m Rocky Brancato, founder of The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., a Tampa criminal defense firm. I have spent more than 25 years in Hillsborough County courtrooms, and I have watched language barriers cost people their best options. That is why our firm offers representation in Spanish and Haitian Creole as well as English.

Who at The Brancato Law Firm speaks Spanish and Haitian Creole?

Attorney Jean-Luc Adrien speaks Spanish, Haitian Creole, and French, and he joined The Brancato Law Firm in May 2026. Our firm also has Spanish-speaking staff, so families can call in Spanish from the first contact.

Jean-Luc earned his law degree at New York University School of Law, where he was a Root-Tilden-Kern Public Interest Scholar, and he worked at The Bronx Defenders in New York City. At the Hillsborough County Public Defender’s Office, he rose to Division Chief, supervising a division of attorneys while handling serious cases himself. He has defended charges ranging from DUI to homicide.

Our phone line includes a language prompt, so callers can choose Spanish when they reach us at (813) 727-7159. Consultations can be held in Spanish, Haitian Creole, French, or English.

Do I have the right to an interpreter in a Florida criminal case?

Yes. Under Florida Rule of General Practice and Judicial Administration 2.560(b), “The court must appoint an interpreter in any criminal or juvenile delinquency proceeding in which the accused, the parent or legal guardian of the accused juvenile, the victim, or the alleged victim cannot understand or has limited understanding of English, or cannot be sufficiently understood in English.” The rule appears in the Florida Rules of General Practice and Judicial Administration. For witnesses, section 90.606, Florida Statutes requires a qualified interpreter to be sworn when a witness cannot understand or speak English well enough to be understood.

In the 13th Judicial Circuit, the Court Interpreter Center provides interpreters for due-process hearings such as first appearance, arraignment, and trial. Its staff interpreters cover Spanish, and freelance interpreters cover more than 20 other languages and dialects. Interpreters can be requested at (813) 272-5947.

When a lawyer hires an interpreter for work outside the courtroom, such as a jail visit or a witness interview, Rule 2.565 requires the lawyer to use a certified, language-skilled, or provisionally approved interpreter whenever possible. That rule exists because translation quality matters.

Is a Spanish-speaking lawyer better than using an interpreter?

For most clients, yes. A court interpreter translates what is said in the courtroom. A lawyer who speaks your language can do the work that happens outside it: explaining the police report, reviewing body camera video with you, walking through the scoresheet, and answering your family’s questions about bond.

Language errors have real consequences. The Brennan Center for Justice’s report Language Access in State Courts (2009) described a Florida case in which an interpreter who had never been assessed for competency worked thousands of cases, and one defendant pleaded guilty to a felony while believing he was pleading to a misdemeanor. Florida’s interpreter rules have been strengthened since then, but the lesson is the same: what you understand before you plead matters more than what is translated at the plea.

Can a Miranda warning given in Spanish be challenged?

Yes, when the translation or the questioning breaks down. In Cuervo v. State, 967 So. 2d 155 (Fla. 2007), a Spanish-speaking suspect told detectives, “No quiero declarar nada,” meaning he did not want to make any statement. The trial court translated it differently and admitted his confession. The Florida Supreme Court held that he had clearly invoked his right to remain silent, that continued questioning violated Miranda, and that he was entitled to a new trial.

In State v. Soto, 954 So. 2d 686 (Fla. 4th DCA 2007), the court upheld suppression where the defendant had “manifest language difficulties,” and an officer told him to answer only in English. Florida courts do not throw out every imperfect translation. They look at whether the person actually understood the rights and whether a request to stop or to have a lawyer was honored. A lawyer who speaks the language can spot those problems in the recording that an English-only lawyer may miss.

How can a criminal case affect my immigration status?

A criminal case can affect immigration status even when the charge seems minor. In Padilla v. Kentucky, 559 U.S. 356 (2010), the U.S. Supreme Court held that “counsel must inform her client whether his plea carries a risk of deportation.” Florida judges must also warn every defendant at a plea, under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.172(c)(8), that a plea “regardless of whether adjudication of guilt has been withheld, may have the additional consequence of changing his or her immigration status, including deportation or removal from the United States.”

Notice that a withhold of adjudication does not protect a noncitizen. Our attorneys work to resolve cases in ways that avoid immigration consequences. In September 2026, a client charged with possessing a short-barreled rifle, cannabis, and paraphernalia was accepted into diversion after a mitigation report and a possession motion, avoiding a felony and likely deportation. In April 2025, a motion to suppress gave the defense the bargaining power to obtain diversion in a corruption by threat and resisting case, giving the client a path to avoid deportation. See our case results page. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. When a case carries immigration risk, we also recommend that the client consult an immigration attorney.

How many people in Hillsborough County need language access?

Many. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s QuickFacts for Hillsborough County, 30.7% of residents age 5 and older spoke a language other than English at home in the 2020 to 2024 American Community Survey, 32.1% of residents are Hispanic or Latino, and 19.7% were born outside the United States.

That is a large share of the people who appear in Hillsborough County courtrooms every day. At first appearance in Hillsborough, the person appears by video from the jail while the judge and the lawyers appear from downtown. For someone who does not speak English well, that video hearing can be confusing. A lawyer who can speak with the family beforehand, in their language, can bring the information that helps a judge set a reasonable bond.

What cases does our firm handle in Spanish and Haitian Creole?

Our attorneys handle the full range of criminal cases in Spanish and Haitian Creole, including:

• DUI and criminal traffic offenses
• Drug possession and trafficking
• Domestic violence and battery
• Violent crimes, robbery, and burglary
• Weapons charges
• Sex crimes
• Homicide and manslaughter
• Probation violations
• Juvenile cases
• Investigations before charges are filed, through our pre-file advocacy

Cases are heard at the Hillsborough County Courthouse in Tampa, the Pinellas County Criminal Justice Center, and the West and East Pasco judicial centers. Learn more on our Hillsborough County criminal defense attorney page and our practice areas page. For more about your rights in court, read our post on the right to an interpreter in court.

Resumen en español

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. ofrece defensa criminal en español en los condados de Hillsborough, Pinellas y Pasco. El abogado Jean-Luc Adrien habla español, criollo haitiano y francés, y nuestro equipo incluye personal que habla español. Si usted o un familiar ha sido arrestado, llame al (813) 727-7159 y seleccione español. Le explicaremos los cargos, la fianza y las consecuencias migratorias en su idioma, sin intermediarios.

Frequently asked questions about Spanish-speaking criminal defense in Tampa

Does The Brancato Law Firm have a Spanish-speaking criminal defense lawyer?

Yes. Attorney Jean-Luc Adrien speaks Spanish, Haitian Creole, and French, and The Brancato Law Firm also has Spanish-speaking staff who can take calls from clients and families.

Is there a Haitian Creole-speaking criminal lawyer in Tampa?

Yes. Jean-Luc Adrien of The Brancato Law Firm speaks Haitian Creole and handles criminal cases in Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties. Haitian Creole is not among the languages covered by the 13th Circuit’s staff interpreters, so having a lawyer who speaks it directly can make a real difference.

Will the court give me an interpreter for free in a criminal case?

Yes. Rule 2.560(b) requires the court to appoint an interpreter in any criminal proceeding when the accused cannot understand or has limited understanding of English. The Brancato Law Firm makes sure interpreters are requested for every hearing, and our attorneys explain each hearing to clients beforehand in their language.

Can my family call the firm in Spanish?

Yes. Families can call (813) 727-7159 and choose Spanish at the language prompt, and you can call us at any hour. The Brancato Law Firm often speaks with families before first appearance, when information about work, family, and ties to the community can help with bond. Learn more on our Hillsborough County criminal defense page.

Can a plea deal get me deported if I am not a citizen?

It can. Under Padilla v. Kentucky, 559 U.S. 356 (2010), defense counsel must advise a noncitizen whether a plea carries a risk of deportation, and Florida’s plea colloquy warns that even a withhold of adjudication may affect immigration status. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm look for resolutions such as diversion that reduce that risk, and we recommend that clients also consult an immigration attorney.

What if police questioned me in English when I speak Spanish?

Your statement may be challengeable. Under Cuervo v. State, 967 So. 2d 155 (Fla. 2007), and State v. Soto, 954 So. 2d 686 (Fla. 4th DCA 2007), Florida courts suppress statements when language problems prevented a person from understanding or invoking their rights. The Brancato Law Firm reviews the recording of the interrogation in the language it was conducted in.

For how this fits into the rest of a case, see our stage-by-stage guide to the Florida criminal case process.

Call a Spanish-speaking defense lawyer in Tampa

The first days after an arrest decide bond, the no-contact conditions, and whether a case is filed at all. The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. was founded by Tampa Criminal Defense Attorney Rocky Brancato, and our attorneys can speak with you and your family in Spanish, Haitian Creole, French, or English. Call (813) 727-7159 and choose your language. You can call us at any hour. Our firm has Spanish-speaking staff, and attorney Jean-Luc Adrien speaks Spanish, Haitian Creole, and French.

For more about our defense strategies, visit our Hillsborough County Criminal Defense page.

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A.

620 E. Twiggs Street, Suite 205, Tampa, FL 33602

(813) 727-7159

Serving Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. is a Tampa-based criminal defense practice. We are not affiliated with any other Brancato-named law firms.

Each case is unique, and past results do not guarantee future outcomes. This article is general information, not legal advice.