US Homeland Security Launches Office to Protect Victims of Immigrant Crimes

The US Department of Homeland Security opened new office for American victims of immigrant crime, the Victims of Immigrant Crime Engagement (VOICE), which was created as response to Trump's executive order entitled enhancing public safety and interior of the United States, according to the agency's chief John Kelly.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The US Department of Homeland Security has opened a new office for American victims of immigrant crime, the Victims of Immigrant Crime Engagement (VOICE), the agency's chief John Kelly announced on Wednesday

"We are opening an important office today…We call it the VOICE office," Kelly said. "ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] created the office in response to our president's [Donald Trump] executive order entitled enhancing public safety and interior of the United States."

The VOICE office will support victims and their families by making information about their cases available and guiding them to several resources, Kelly explained.

Kelly emphasized that it is possible to prevent crimes by immigrants, but years of US policies promoting a "politically correct" approach to illegal immigration complicated the issue.

On January 25, President Donald Trump ordered the resumption of the 2008 Secure Communities program that relied on information-sharing among local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to identify and deport immigrants with criminal records.