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On February 20, 2017, the Department of Homeland Security created a new office called the Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement (VOICE) Office. President Donald Trump ordered its creation in Executive Order 13768 dated January 25, 2017 and mentioned it during his joint address on February 28, 2017.

The office will act as a liaison between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the known victims of crimes committed by removable aliens. The liaison will facilitate engagement with the victims and their families to ensure they are provided information about the offender, including the offender's immigration and custody status, and that their questions and concerns regarding immigration enforcement efforts are addressed.

The VOICE office will issue quarterly reports regarding the supposed effects of the victimization by criminal aliens present in the United States.

Critics of the proposal have noted that the creation of the office may be intended to skew public perception about crimes committed by undocumented migrants. There is no empirical evidence that undocumented immigrants commit more crimes than native born, or that immigration increases crime in the United States. Scholars have also criticized the proposal as being similar to lists of "Jewish" crimes printed in newspapers published in Nazi Germany, as part of their anti-Jewish propaganda campaign.

Creation

The office was created pursuant to section 13 of the January 25, 2017 Executive Order 13768 – Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States which states:

Sec. 13. Office for Victims of Crimes Committed by Removable Aliens. The Secretary shall direct the Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to take all appropriate and lawful action to establish within U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement an office to provide proactive, timely, adequate, and professional services to victims of crimes committed by removable aliens and the family members of such victims. This office shall provide quarterly reports studying the effects of the victimization by criminal aliens present in the United States.

Purpose and background

The purpose of the office is to provide information about offenders to victims, and address questions and concerns of victims regarding immigration enforcement efforts. In a speech on February 28, 2017, President Trump discussed the new office and referred to the murders of Jamiel Shaw, Deputy Sheriff Danny Oliver and Detective Michael Davis as victims of immigrant crime. President Trump asserted that victims of immigrant crime have been "ignored by our media, and silenced by special interests".

Criticism

The creation of the office was criticized for duplicating the mission of the existing Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) within the Department of Justice (DOJ), which was created in the 1980s and serves the victims of all types of crime. The executive director of the National Center for Victims of Crime said of the plan: "It's complete and utter duplication and there's no need. I'm not sure what this office would do or what services it would offer different than what is available at DOJ." Criminologist James Alan Fox, the Lipman Professor of Criminology, Law and Public Policy at Northeastern University, criticized the creation of VOICE, saying that it duplicated the mission of OVC.

New York City mayor Bill de Blasio and writer Peter Beinart have said that Trump's creation of the office is a form of scapegoating. Daniel Benjamin, a former U.S. State Department counterterrorism official now at Dartmouth College, wrote that the office was not intended to meet a real need, but rather was aimed at promoting the view that immigrants are dangerous.

The Washington Post fact checked Trump's claims regarding immigration and crime and found that "the vast majority of illegal immigrants do not fit Trump's description of aggravated felons", citing studies by the Congressional Research Service to back up its claims. Moreover, they suggested that the strategy of publishing regular reports on the illicit behavior of undocumented immigrants – as well as singling out this particular group – was similar to tactics used in Nazi Germany to generate anger and hatred towards Jewish individuals.

Trump's proposed policy of publishing lists of crimes committed by immigrants also led to criticism from editors such as Christopher Hooton at The Independent who compared it to the activities of Der Stürmer, which published crimes supposedly committed by Jewish individuals in Nazi Germany. Tessa Stuart of Rolling Stone stated, "The memo doesn't mention it, but presumably the office would distribute the weekly list of criminal actions committed by undocumented immigrants that Trump promised in a recent executive order." Columbia professor Jeffrey Sachs, UCLA professor Kelly Lytle Hernández and journalist Andrea Pitzer also compared the policy to Der Stürmer, Neues Volk and the Institute for Study of the Jewish Question publishing lists of crimes supposedly committed by Jews.

See also

• Immigration and Nationality Act Section 287(g)
• Illegal immigration to the United States
• Immigration policy of Donald Trump
• List of executive actions by Donald Trump

References

1. "DHS Orders Creation of VOICE Office to Help Victims of Criminal Aliens". Fox News. February 21, 2017. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
2. ^ "Enforcement of the Immigration Laws to Serve the National Interest" (PDF). Department of Homeland Security. February 20, 2017. p. 4. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
3. Griffin, Andrew (March 1, 2017). "Donald Trump creates Voice agency to publish list of crimes by immigrants". The Independent. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
4. Kopan, Tal (March 1, 2017). "What is VOICE? Trump highlights crimes by undocumented immigrants". CNN. Retrieved March 2, 2017.
5. "Adolf Hitler also published a list of crimes committed by groups he didn't like". March 2, 2017. Retrieved March 2, 2017.
6. "Are Immigrants More Likely to Commit Crimes?". March 3, 2017. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
7. "Executive Order: Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States". The White House. Office of the Press Secretary. January 25, 2017. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
8. ^ Rhodan, Maya. "Trump Wants to Highlight Immigrant Crime. Democrats Aren't the Only Ones Booing". Time Magazine. Retrieved March 3, 2017. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= requires |archive-url= (help)
9. "Transcript of President Trump's February 28, 2017 Speech". February 28, 2017. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
10. ^ Suzanne Gamboa, Advocates: Trump’s Immigrant Crime Office Is Political Bait, NBC News (March 1, 2017).
11. James Alan Fox, Five flaws in Trump's crime agenda: James Alan Fox, USA Today (March 1, 2017).
12. Azi Paybarah. "De Blasio: Trump 'scapegoating' on immigration could backfire". Politico.
13. "Trump Scapegoats Unauthorized Immigrants for Crime". The Atlantic. March 3, 2017.
14. Benjamin, Daniel (March 2, 2017). "Donald Trump Changed His Tone But Not His Message: Be Afraid". Time. Retrieved March 2, 2017.
15. Lee, Michelle (March 1, 2017). "Fact check: Trump claim on murders by unauthorized immigrants". Washington Post. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
16. Ericsson, Amanda (March 2, 2017). "Adolf Hitler also published a list of crimes committed by groups he didn't like". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 2, 2017.
17. "Nazi Germany vs. Trump Administration, compare and contrast". March 2, 2017. Retrieved March 2, 2017.
18. "One of Trump's worst proposals yet was also implemented by Hitler in Nazi Germany". March 1, 2017. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
19. "Why Trump's Immigration Policy Is a Legal Mess". March 2, 2017. Retrieved March 2, 2017.
20. "In Move Recalling Nazi-Era Policies, Trump to Create Office to Track Crimes Committed by Immigrants". Democracy Now!. March 2, 2017. Retrieved March 2, 2017. And scholars also say Trump's proposed list of crimes committed by immigrants recalls Nazi Germany-era policy, where the Nazi Institute for Research on the Jewish Question kept files on crimes committed by Jews.

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