Trump Admin. Just Launched a New Office For Victims of Criminal Aliens

Brittany M. Hughes | April 26, 2017
DONATE
Font Size

On Wednesday, U.S. immigration officials announced the official launch of a new department inside U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement designed for Americans and legal immigrants who’ve been victimized by illegal alien crime.

Called the Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement Office, or VOICE, the program was established via an executive order signed by President Donald Trump, and will help connect illegal alien crime victims with help and support, including automated alerts containing information on the immigration custody status of the perpetrator.

The office includes 27 specialists to help victims connect with resources they may need, along with a 24-hour hotline they can call for support.

“All crime is terrible, but these victims are unique, and too often ignored,” Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said at the time of the announcement. “They are casualties of crimes that should never have taken place, because the people who victimized them often times should not have been in the country in the first place.”

VOICE runs completely counter to the narrative pushed by so-called “sanctuary cities” across the country, whose primary goal is to protect an illegal alien who’s committed a crime in the United States. Instead, the Trump administration has pledged to take a “victim-centered approach” to illegal alien crime, focusing on helping those who are harmed by crimes committed by people with no legal right to be here.

ICE officials added that the VOICE office isn’t yet complete, saying the administration will evaluate the program moving forward to determine how they can better help victims of illegal alien crime in the future.

“There’s nothing but goodness in what we’re doing here today in establishing this office,” Kelly said Wednesday at a press conference, where the families of several victims of illegal alien crime sat in the front row.

“[It will] help us shine a light on a very important group of Americans, and that is the victims of these crimes,” he added. “We are giving people who are victimized by illegal aliens, for the first time, a voice of their own.”

“These crimes in many ways were preventable, but because of years and years of policies complicating immigration and enforcement efforts and a politically correct approach to public safety, there are mothers who will never again receive a Mothers Day card from a son. There are husbands who will never again kiss their wives. There are children who will never get to graduate from high school. These victims of illegal aliens aren’t data points, they’re people,” he said. 

A recent estimate put forward by former ICE Director Sarah Saldaña during President Obama's term put the number of criminal aliens loose in the United States at around 167,000. 

donate