Office to aid migrants’ victims
Homeland chief unveils agency, focuses on crimes of illegals
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday opened an office dedicated to helping victims of crimes committed by migrants, an action that critics say gives the false impression that migrants are more likely to commit crimes than native-born U.S. citizens.
Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said the office, Victims of Immigrant Crime Engagement, or VOICE, will be used to keep victims informed of the immigration proceedings of suspects and walk them through the complicated and often drawn-out immigration court process. The office will be staffed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees.
Kelly focused his remarks on criminals who are in the country illegally, saying they never should have been in the United States and had the opportunity to carry out crimes. But the immigration officials also will aid victims of crimes attributed to immigrants living in the U.S. legally, which could include permanent residents.
The Trump administration frequently has highlighted crimes committed by people in the country illegally, and the cases receive widespread attention in pro-Trump news outlets. But the administration has not provided statistics about the crimes or countered studies indicating that migrants are less likely than native-born Americans to commit crimes.
When asked how many crimes have been attributed to migrants, Homeland Security Department spokesman David Lapan said, “Too many.”
Brent Wilkes, CEO of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said the office appears to be little more than an extension of Trump’s rhetoric against migrants.
“It’s pretty clear to me that the goal here is to do the kind of thing he did on the campaign trail,” Wilkes said. He said the office is unnecessary because Immigration and Customs Enforcement has long had the authority to keep crime victims informed.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., decried the effort as a waste of money at a time when other threats face the country.
“Doing this not only ignores the vast majority of the crime but stokes racist and xenophobic fears while dividing the country,” said Thompson, the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee.
Trump announced plans for the office in February. Immigration was a core issue in his campaign, but he has faced repeated setbacks in implementing policies.
Courts have blocked orders barring temporarily the admission of refugees and visitors from six Muslim-majority nations and stripping some federal funding from so-called sanctuary cities that the government says aren’t cooperating with immigration authorities. Preliminary efforts to fund a border wall have encountered obstacles in Congress, and Trump backed away from his earlier insistence that a pending budget deal include more than $1 billion for a down payment on the wall.
In his remarks, Kelly said victims of migrants’ crimes have historically been ignored by the federal government and left without answers about a suspect’s immigration proceedings. He said the “VOICE” name is fitting because the government is giving “for the first time a voice of their own to these victims.”
It’s unclear how much information Immigration and Customs Enforcement will be able to provide to crime victims given privacy protections afforded to migrants depending on the nature of their immigration status and the details of their cases. The same executive order that called for creating the new office also directed the Homeland Security Department to overhaul its privacy policy and ensure that people in the country illegally are not afforded the same privacy protections as U.S. citizens. The agency said its lawyers still are reviewing the policies.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement already maintains a publicly accessible Internet site to track a migrant detainee’s location, but the immigration court system, run by the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Reform, does not allow online access to case information. The court’s records are accessible only by telephone, and someone looking for information must have a migrant’s registration number.