DHS revives VOICE office

The Department of Homeland Security has brought back the Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement office, restoring a Trump-era program inside Immigration and Customs Enforcement for crime victims and their families. (dhs.gov) Homeland Security announced the relaunch on April 10, 2025, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement marked the one-year anniversary on April 9, 2026, with Angel Families in Washington. The agency says the office offers a hotline, case information and referrals to support services. (dhs.gov 1) (dhs.gov 2) (ice.gov) VOICE stands for Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says the office can help victims sign up for custody-status notifications, obtain certain releasable criminal or immigration-history information, and connect with local resources through a toll-free line at 1-855-48-VOICE. (ice.gov 1) (ice.gov 2) The office is back in a second Trump administration after four years of policy reversals at Homeland Security. The first Trump administration created VOICE in 2017, and the Biden administration replaced it on June 11, 2021, with a broader Victims Engagement and Services Line. (ice.gov) (wttw.com) The argument around VOICE has always been about what kind of victims office the federal government should run. Trump officials have said a dedicated office is needed for people harmed in cases tied to immigration status, while Biden officials said all victims should be served without singling out one category of offender. (ice.gov) (wttw.com) Homeland Security’s current messaging is tightly tied to Angel Families, the term used by relatives of people killed by immigrants who were in the country unlawfully. The department’s anniversary page says VOICE “was established in 2017” and has continued to focus on victims and families affected by “criminal aliens and illegal immigration crime.” (dhs.gov) That language is also central to the criticism. Immigrant-rights advocates and some former Biden officials have argued that programs like VOICE can stigmatize immigrants broadly by spotlighting crimes with an immigration nexus even though immigrants also are victims of crime and, in many studies, have lower incarceration rates than U.S.-born people. (wttw.com) For now, the practical change is straightforward: the dedicated VOICE hotline and office are operating again inside Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Homeland Security is using the office as a public-facing part of its immigration enforcement message. (ice.gov) (dhs.gov)