The Department of Homeland Security will officially announce Wednesday the opening of an office that will provide quarterly reports studying the effects of illegal immigrant crime.
President Donald Trump called for the establishment of the Victims of Illegal Immigrant Crime Engagement Office (VOICE) in a January executive order pertaining to illegal immigration. The office’s main stated purpose is to serve as a liaison between Immigration and Customs Enforcement and victims and the family of victims of crimes committed by illegal immigrants.
In his executive order establishing VOICE, Trump also stated that the office will “provide quarterly reports studying the effects of the victimization by criminal aliens present in the United States.”
A DHS spokeswoman confirmed to The Daily Caller in February that the “reports and statistics will be provided as directed by the executive order.”
Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly went into detail about the office in a February memo in which he said: “Criminal aliens routinely victimize Americans and other legal residents. Often, these victims are not provided adequate information about the offender, the offender’s immigration status, or any enforcement action taken by ICE against the offender.”
Kelly ended the extension of certain Privacy Act protections to illegal immigrants so that these victims and their families can receive information about illegal immigrant offenders.
Trump mentioned VOICE during his February address to Congress. “We are providing a voice to those who have been ignored by our media and silenced by special interests,” Trump said. Time reported that Democrats in the chamber booed when Trump spoke about this office.