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US homeland security department set to open Trump's immigrant crime office Homeland security unveils Trump's controversial immigrant crime office
(about 3 hours later)
The homeland security department is set to launch an office for American victims of immigrant crime. The Trump administration has unveiled a controversial new office set up to support the victims of crimes committed solely by undocumented migrants, which was quickly labelled a device for “scapegoating immigrants” by advocates who pointed to numerous studies showing immigrants are significantly less likely to commit crime.
The Victims of Immigrant Crime Engagement, or Voice, opens on Wednesday and is intended to keep victims informed of the immigration proceedings of suspects. The Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement Office, or Voice, was commissioned by Donald Trump in January through an executive order that also contained a host of hardline changes to immigration enforcement in the United States. The president was later booed by Democrats when he mentioned the new office during a speech to Congress in February.
Critics have argued that such an office is misguided in part because multiple studies show that immigrants are less likely to commit crime than native-born US citizens. At a launch event in Washington, homeland security secretary John Kelly told reporters that the intention behind Voice was to “acknowledge the exceptional damage caused by criminal illegal aliens and to support the victims of these preventable crimes”.
Donald Trump announced the office in his speech to Congress in February. The office’s creation was also part of an executive order aimed at combating illegal immigration. Kelly, who did not take questions from reporters, added: “There’s nothing but goodness in what we are doing here today.”
Trump’s tough approach to illegal immigration was the core issue of his campaign. The office’s opening comes as his administration is highlighting his accomplishments as he approaches the 100-day marker of his presidency. The secretary was joined at the unveiling by a number of crime victims and their families, reminiscent of the primetime speaking platform Trump offered to the family members of three individuals killed by undocumented migrants at the Republican national convention last July.
More details soon ... The new office, contained within homeland security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency [Ice], has established a hotline for crime victims to call. Operators would then direct victims to Ice officers who would assist in explaining enforcement and removal laws. The line would also help to assign one of 27 victim assistance specialists and assist victims in receiving automated custody status information under a new online system launched on Wednesday.
Ice spokesman Bryan Cox said that the agency would use existing funds to finance the office and confirmed the 27 assistance specialists were existing employees.
As part of the hardline January order, Voice is also expected to produce a quarterly report detailing all crimes in America committed by undocumented migrants. Cox confirmed the agency intended to comply with the directive but said there was no date set for the first of these crime reports.
According to research published by the American Immigration Council in 2015, immigrants are far less likely to engage in criminal behaviour than those born in the US and are less likely to be incarcerated. Numerous other studies have pointed to similar conclusions.
Representative Joaquin Castro, a Democrat from Texas, acknowledged there was no dispute that victims of crime undergo a tragic ordeal, but told the Guardian: “It’s hard not to believe that the president doesn’t have an agenda here to make some kind of ugly example of undocumented immigrants.”
Grace Meng, an immigration researcher at Human Rights Watch’s US program shared these concerns.
“Scapegoating immigrants as responsible for crime is a common tactic used by abusive governments around the world, to create a convenient fantasy that a society’s problems all come from the outside.”
“If the Trump administration was serious about public safety, it would respect the stance taken by scores of law enforcement officials, who recognize communities are safest when immigrants are seen as important members of these communities, rather than outsiders who come to the US to cause harm,” Meng added.
Steve King, a Republican congressman from Iowa who has often sparked controversy for making incendiary comments about immigrants, however, celebrated the creation of the new office.
“I think it’s a terrific move by the president and his administration,” King told the Guardian.
“It identifies the grief across the country that is caused by the hands of people who shouldn’t be here – that can’t be here legally and by law.”