Remember the Victims Of Immigration Crime Engagement (VOICE) Office? Replacing that unnecessary and racist bureaucratic duplication in 2021 was yet another one of President Joe Biden’s quiet accomplishments. An accomplishment he could not trumpet because it has way too much nuance to fit into a soundbite.
Establishing that office in the first place back in 2017, on the other hand, was a brazen and much publicized act of racism and fearmongering. Our own Gabe Ortiz explained it back then thus:
Donald Trump and Department of Homeland Security Sec. John Kelly have rolled out the latest effort in their campaign to demonize immigrants and their families—a disgusting “VOICE” office to track crimes allegedly committed by undocumented immigrants
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Here’s the truth: “unauthorized immigrants commit crimes at a lower rate than the American population at large,” according to multiple studies.
Yeah, because if you’re in this country “illegally,” the last thing you want to do is draw attention to yourself with high-profile violent crimes. I mean, like, come on.
Most undocumented immigrants are here to work hard and chase the American dream. And those of us whose families navigated the labyrinthine legal immigration system with all its arbitrary obstacles, we should not look down on undocumented immigrants.
And the pro-immigrant sanctuary city policies that Trump loves to hate actually make communities safer, because local law enforcement agencies are able to build trust with immigrant residents. But truth isn’t Trump’s intention here. As the Atlantic notes, if “Trump’s goal is stigmatizing a vulnerable class of people, then publicizing their crimes—and their crimes alone—makes sense. It’s been a tactic bigots have used more than a century”:
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The office was initially announced in conjunction with reports aimed to shame sanctuary cities—until Trump was forced to abruptly end the campaign after only three weeks because an “incompetent” ICE included so many errors in the reports. According to the New York Times, VOICE will be housed within ICE as well, and run with tax dollars no less. That’s reassuring.
Frighteningly, this appears to be just the beginning of DHS’s plan: “ICE is employing a measured approach to building the VOICE office, meaning that it intends to expand the services VOICE offers in the future,” ICE tweeted. Arizona Democrat, Rep. Ruben Gallego, translates what those “services” really are: VOICE “is a piece of propaganda pushed by the Trump administration that's going to spread fear about a community."
A few months into President Biden’s presidency, President Biden ordered the streamlining of VOICE’s bureaucratic duplication. The URL ice.gov/voice still exists, but it redirects to the website of the less inflammatory Victims and Engagement Services Line.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Victims Engagement and Services Line (VESL) serves as a comprehensive and inclusive support system for all victims, regardless of immigration status or the immigration status of the perpetrator.
VESL doesn’t have the same phone number as VOICE, though.
Elsewhere on ICE’s website, however, a so-called “fact sheet” document still exists purporting that “victims of immigration-related crimes have not had a government resource that could provide timely information on their cases.” Notice that the VOICE “fact sheet” doesn’t include adjectives like “comprehensive,” “unified” or “simple.”
Even without VOICE, there are still plenty of avenues for those who want to demonize immigrants. The so-called “Preserve America” PAC is constantly running ads on TV highlighting crimes committed by undocumented immigrants and flat out lying about Kamala Harris’s record as a prosecutor in California. It’s clearly fearmongering, the ads might as well say “Illegals are coming to kill you right now.”
Grieving father Nathan Clark felt he had to speak up and demand that Republican politicians stop dishonoring the memory of his son Aiden for cheap political points. Emily Sanderson for WLWT 5.
"To clear the air, my son Aiden Clark was not murdered; he was accidentally killed by an immigrant from Haiti. This tragedy is felt all over the community, the state and even the nation, but don't spin this towards hate," Nathan Clark said.
He asked that people instead, live like Aiden would live.
"In order to live like Aiden, you need to accept everyone, choose to shine, make a difference, lead the way and be the inspiration. What many people in this community and state and nation are doing is the opposite of what you should be doing. Sure, we have our problems here in Springfield and in the U.S., but does Aiden Clark have anything to do about that," Nathan Clark said.
Nathan Clark deserves an apology from the politicians he called out, but I doubt he’ll get it.
