New Office to Assist Victims of Crimes by Undocumented Immigrants

Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly revealed a new office created to help those who have been the victims of crimes committed by undocumented immigrants.

The Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement Office (VOICE) will provide custody status, release dates and other relevant information to victims, witnesses and those who represent them. 

Kelly says this information is meant to provide help to those who need it.

"We are giving people who are victimized by illegal aliens for the first time a voice of their own...they're casualties of crimes that should never have taken place because the people who victimized them should never have been here in our country."

President Trump had been working on the office for months, originally calling for it in an executive order in January.

Immigration advocates are planning a lawsuit to block the victims office because they say it is just an extension of Trump's anti-immigrant speech.

Chief executive of the League of United Latin American Citizens Brent Wilkes says this office isn't really about benefiting victims. 

 "It's really about trying to vilify the immigrant population in this country and using that to their political advantage."

The office will be housed in the ICE department agency and officials say the office will provide a hotline for victims and would be staffed by over 20 community relations officers and 27 specialists in victim assistance.

Trump's executive order also called for reports on crimes committed by undocumented immigrants, but those haven't been produced so far. 


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