Feds create office for victims of immigrants
WASHINGTON — Stymied on his top immigration initiatives, President Donald Trump is making good on one plan that critics denounce as fearmongering and misleading: opening an office for victims of crimes committed by immigrants, although studies show immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than native-born citizens.
Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly on Wednesday opened the office dubbed the Victims of Immigrant Crime Engagement, or VOICE. He said it will be used to keep victims informed of the immigration proceedings of suspects and generally 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 brief remarks on immigrant criminals in the country illegally, saying they never should have been in the United States and able to carry out crimes. But the ICE officials also will aid victims of crimes attributed to immigrants living in the U.S. legally, a group that could include permanent residents.
The Trump administration frequently has highlighted crimes committed by immigrants 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 immigrants are less likely than native-born Americans to commit crimes.
When asked how many crimes have been attributed to immigrants, Homeland Security 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 immigrants. He added the office is unnecessary because ICE has long had the authority to keep crime victims informed.
Immigration was Trump’s core issue in the campaign, but he has faced repeated setbacks on the issue. Courts have blocked orders barring temporarily the admission of refugees and visitors from six Muslim-majority nations and stripping some federal funding from socalled sanctuary cities that the government says aren’t cooperating with immigration authorities.
The latter ruling came Tuesday evening, from U.S. District Judge William Orrick in San Francisco.
Trump reacted to the decision on Twitter on Wednesday morning, calling the decision “ridiculous” and saying he would take his fight to the highest court, tweeting: “See you in the Supreme Court.”
White House chief of staff Reince Priebus described the ruling as another example of the “9th Circuit going bananas.”
The administration has often criticized the 9th Circuit. Orrick does not sit on that court, but his district is in the territory of the appeals court, which has ruled against one version of Trump’s travel ban.
In an earlier statement, the White House took aim at Orrick, saying his ruling “unilaterally rewrote immigration policy for our nation.”
“This case is yet one more example of egregious overreach by a single, unelected district judge,” the statement said.