The Claim

Restored the Department of Homeland Security’s Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement (VOICE) Office to provide direct support to victims of illegal alien crime.

The Claim, Unpacked

What is literally being asserted?

That the Trump administration restored the VOICE Office, a DHS entity that assists victims of crimes committed by undocumented immigrants. The factual core is narrow: an office that previously existed was brought back.

What is being implied but not asserted?

That victims of “illegal alien crime” lacked support before VOICE was restored. That immigrants commit crimes at rates sufficient to warrant a dedicated federal victim-services office. That the Biden administration harmed victims by closing VOICE. That VOICE provides a unique, irreplaceable service. That the restoration constitutes a meaningful policy achievement with tangible benefits for crime victims.

What is conspicuously absent?

Any mention that when VOICE operated during Trump’s first term (2017-2021), it served vanishingly few actual crime victims — fielding only 753 calls in all of 2020 (approximately two per day), with the majority of calls in its first year classified as “unrelated” or “commentary” rather than victim services. Any mention that the Biden administration replaced VOICE with the Victims Engagement and Services Line (VESL), which expanded eligibility to serve all victims regardless of immigration status. Any mention that the federal government already operates the DOJ Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), which served 9.8 million victims in FY 2022 through the Crime Victims Fund — a $3.6 billion fund serving all crime victims regardless of perpetrator nationality. Any mention of the overwhelming research consensus — from the National Academies of Sciences, Cato Institute, PNAS, and dozens of peer-reviewed studies — that immigrants, including undocumented immigrants, commit crimes at substantially lower rates than native-born Americans. Any outcome data from the restored VOICE office showing how many victims it has actually served since April 2025.

Evidence Assessment

Established Facts

VOICE was indeed restored. Executive Order 14159 (“Protecting the American People Against Invasion”), signed January 20, 2025, includes Section 15 directing ICE to reestablish the VOICE Office. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem formally announced the relaunch at a press conference on April 9, 2025. The office is operational, with a toll-free hotline (1-855-48-VOICE), hours of 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET, and services including custody status notifications via DHS-VINE, case history sharing, victim impact statement opportunities, and referrals to federal, state, and local resources. The factual core of this claim — that the office was restored — is true. [^027-a1]

VOICE was originally created in Trump’s first term and dissolved by Biden. VOICE was established by Executive Order 13768 (January 25, 2017) and officially launched on April 26, 2017 within ICE. It employed at least 27 victim assistance specialists and operated a call center in Laguna Niguel, California with six operators. The Biden administration dissolved VOICE on June 11, 2021 and replaced it with the Victims Engagement and Services Line (VESL). VESL expanded eligibility to serve “all victims regardless of immigration status of the victim or perpetrator” — a broader mandate than VOICE’s exclusive focus on victims of crimes committed by “removable aliens.” [^027-a2]

During its first term of operation (2017-2021), VOICE served very few actual crime victims. Between April 26 and September 30, 2017, the VOICE hotline received 4,602 calls, but more than half (2,515) were classified as “unrelated” or “commentary.” Only 244 callers requested victim services, and only 127 of those ultimately wanted social service referrals. In Q1 FY 2018 (October-December 2017), only 30 victims were referred to Victim Assistance Specialists. By 2020, the office fielded just 753 calls for the entire year — approximately two per day. Many callers used the hotline to report suspected undocumented neighbors and business rivals rather than to seek victim services. The office’s budget was $1 million in 2018. [^027-a3]

The research consensus overwhelmingly shows immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than native-born Americans. The Cato Institute’s 2025 analysis of incarceration data (2010-2023) found illegal immigrants are incarcerated at a rate of 626 per 100,000, compared to 1,221 per 100,000 for native-born Americans — meaning undocumented immigrants are roughly half as likely to be incarcerated. Legal immigrants have the lowest rate at 312 per 100,000. A landmark PNAS study (Light, He, and Robey, 2020) using Texas arrest data (2012-2018) found native-born citizens are over 2 times more likely to be arrested for violent crimes, 2.5 times more likely for drug crimes, and over 4 times more likely for property crimes than undocumented immigrants. The National Academies of Sciences concluded that “a century of research shows immigrants have lower rates of criminal involvement compared to native-born populations.” Stanford economist Ran Abramitzky found immigrants have been 60% less likely to be incarcerated than U.S.-born people since the 1960s. [^027-a4]

A comprehensive federal victim services infrastructure already exists and dwarfs VOICE in scope. The DOJ Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), established in 1988, administers the Crime Victims Fund — created by the Victims of Crime Act of 1984 and funded by federal criminal fines, not tax dollars. As of January 2026, the fund holds over $3.6 billion. In FY 2022, OVC subgrantees served 9.8 million victims. OVC awarded more than $1.1 billion in grants in FY 2024. This infrastructure serves all crime victims in every U.S. state and territory — regardless of who committed the crime — and has operated continuously since the 1980s. VOICE, by contrast, had a $1 million budget in 2018 and served a few hundred actual victims per year. [^027-a5]

Strong Inferences

No public outcome data exists for the restored VOICE office. DHS’s April 2025 relaunch announcement, the DHS Year in Review 2025, and the January 2026 “365 wins” list all reference VOICE’s restoration but provide no statistics on how many victims the restored office has actually served since April 2025. Given that the original VOICE office served only about 750 people per year at its peak — and far fewer for actual victim services — the absence of outcome data is conspicuous. If the numbers were impressive, the administration would likely cite them. The claim is structured as an “announcement win” — the achievement is the act of restoring the office, not any measurable outcome from its operations. [^027-a6]

VOICE’s premise — that immigrants commit crimes at rates warranting a dedicated federal office — is contradicted by the evidence base. Creating a dedicated office for victims of crimes committed specifically by immigrants implies that immigrant crime is a distinctive problem requiring a specialized response. Every major study of the question finds the opposite: immigrants commit crimes at substantially lower rates than native-born Americans. The premise is equivalent to creating an office for victims of crimes committed by left-handed people — it carves out a statistically smaller category of offenders for special attention, implying a threat that the data does not support. The framing serves a narrative purpose (reinforcing the association between immigration and crime) rather than a victim-services purpose (which would be better served by the existing OVC infrastructure that covers all victims). [^027-a7]

The Biden-era VESL replacement provided broader victim services than VOICE. VESL expanded eligibility to serve all victims regardless of immigration status — meaning undocumented immigrants who were themselves victims of crime could seek help without fear of deportation. VESL also incorporated detention abuse reporting (DRIL) and expanded support for trafficking victims. The framing of VOICE’s restoration as filling a gap ignores that VESL already provided victim notification and assistance services, plus additional services VOICE did not offer. The “restoration” replaced a broader program with a narrower one focused exclusively on victims of immigrant crime. [^027-a8]

Informed Speculation

The VOICE office serves a primarily symbolic function in the administration’s immigration messaging architecture. It exists less to deliver victim services — for which there is already a multi-billion-dollar federal infrastructure — than to institutionalize the association between immigration and crime within the federal bureaucracy. Every time VOICE is mentioned, referenced, or cited as a “win,” it reinforces the premise that immigrant crime is a distinct and significant category of public safety concern, even though the data shows the opposite.

The placement of this claim in the “365 wins” list is instructive. Item #27 is sandwiched between enforcement claims about truck drivers (#26) and trafficking (#28), within a section titled “SECURING AMERICA’S BORDERS AND PUTTING AMERICANS FIRST.” The VOICE office is a narrative device — it puts a face on the claim that immigrants are dangerous by creating a federal office premised on that assumption. The office’s actual operational impact is negligible compared to the DOJ’s existing victim services infrastructure, but its rhetorical impact is substantial: it allows the administration to point to a federal office that exists solely because of “illegal alien crime.”

The original VOICE office’s call logs revealed something the administration likely did not intend: many callers used the hotline not for victim services but to report neighbors and business rivals they suspected of being undocumented. The office functioned in practice partly as an immigration tip line — a role at odds with its stated victim-services mission but consistent with its broader political function of encouraging citizens to view immigrants as threats.

Structural Analysis

Stated vs. revealed preferences: The administration states it is providing “direct support to victims of illegal alien crime.” The revealed preference is narrative construction — creating and maintaining a federal office that presupposes immigrant crime is a distinct and significant problem. If the goal were genuinely to serve crime victims, the more efficient approach would be to fund and expand the existing OVC infrastructure, which already serves 9.8 million victims annually through a $3.6 billion fund. Instead, the administration created a separate, tiny office ($1 million budget in its first incarnation) that serves a few hundred people per year but whose very existence reinforces a political message.

The framing lens: The claim is structured as an “announcement win” — the achievement is the act of restoration, not the outcome. This is a recurring pattern in the “365 wins” list: creating, signing, announcing, restoring, or launching something counts as a “win” regardless of whether it produces measurable benefits. VOICE was “restored” on April 9, 2025. As of January 20, 2026 (when this list was published), no outcome data has been released. The win is the announcement itself.

Cui bono: VOICE benefits the administration’s political messaging by institutionalizing the immigrant-crime narrative within DHS. It provides a backdrop for press conferences featuring individual victims (as the April 2025 launch did), creating powerful emotional moments that reinforce the premise. Victim advocates and researchers note that the actual beneficiaries of VOICE are minimal — the vast majority of crime victims are served by existing infrastructure — while the political beneficiaries are substantial.

The premise problem: VOICE’s existence rests on an unstated premise: that crimes committed by immigrants are categorically different from other crimes, requiring separate federal attention. This premise is not supported by the evidence. Crimes committed by immigrants are already handled by the same criminal justice system, and victims already have access to the same victim services (OVC, state victim compensation programs, DOJ Victim Notification System) regardless of who committed the crime. VOICE adds an immigration-status filter to victim services — not because victims need it, but because the administration’s narrative requires it.

Context the Framing Omits

The Biden administration did not simply “shut down” victim services — it replaced VOICE with a broader program. VESL expanded eligibility to serve all victims regardless of immigration status, added detention abuse reporting, and expanded trafficking victim support. Framing the Biden action as “shuttering” victim services omits the replacement program that served a wider population. DHS Secretary Mayorkas stated the purpose: “All people, regardless of their immigration status, should be able to access victim services without fear.”

VOICE’s track record in Trump’s first term was minimal. The office served approximately 750 people per year by 2020 (753 total calls), with the majority of early calls classified as unrelated to victim services. Only 127 of the first 4,602 callers ultimately wanted social service referrals. The office’s $1 million budget is 0.00003% of the $3.6 billion Crime Victims Fund. These numbers suggest the office functions as political infrastructure, not victim-services infrastructure.

The research consensus demolishes the premise. Immigrants — including undocumented immigrants — commit crimes at roughly half the rate of native-born Americans (Cato, PNAS, National Academies, Stanford). Creating a dedicated office for victims of immigrant crime is like creating a dedicated office for victims of crimes committed during full moons — it implies a pattern that the data does not support. The Cato Institute found that in 2023, the native-born incarceration rate (1,221 per 100,000) was roughly double the undocumented immigrant rate (626 per 100,000).

VOICE may actually harm public safety by deterring crime reporting. Victim advocates, including the American Immigration Council, have documented that immigration-focused victim programs create a chilling effect on crime reporting among immigrant communities. When immigrants fear that contact with law enforcement or government agencies could trigger deportation — for themselves, family members, or community members — they are less likely to report crimes, cooperate as witnesses, or seek help. The Cato Institute’s 2025 analysis found that immigrants actually boost crime reporting rates and reduce victimization in their communities.

The timing suggests political theater. The EO was signed January 20, 2025 (Day One), but VOICE was not formally relaunched until April 9, 2025 — nearly three months later. This gap suggests the announcement was timed for maximum political impact rather than urgent victim-services needs. If victims were genuinely underserved, the delay would be difficult to justify.

Verdict

Factual core: True. The VOICE Office was indeed restored. Executive Order 14159 (January 20, 2025) directed its reestablishment, and DHS Secretary Noem formally relaunched it on April 9, 2025. The office is operational with a hotline and victim services.

Framing as “win”: Misleading. The claim implies VOICE fills a critical gap in victim services, but the evidence shows: (1) the existing DOJ Office for Victims of Crime serves 9.8 million victims annually through a $3.6 billion fund, dwarfing VOICE’s operational capacity; (2) the Biden administration replaced VOICE with VESL, a broader victim-services program, not a vacuum; (3) VOICE served approximately 750 people total in 2020 and only 127 actual victim-service seekers in its first five months; (4) the premise that immigrant crime warrants a dedicated federal office is contradicted by every major study, which consistently finds immigrants commit crimes at roughly half the rate of native-born Americans; and (5) no outcome data has been released for the restored office, making this a pure “announcement win.”

What a reader should understand: VOICE was indeed restored — that narrow factual claim is accurate. But the restoration is a symbolic act, not a substantive victim-services achievement. The federal government already operates a multi-billion-dollar victim services infrastructure (OVC/Crime Victims Fund) that serves nearly 10 million victims annually regardless of who committed the crime. VOICE, in its first incarnation, served a few hundred actual victims per year on a $1 million budget. Its primary function is narrative: it institutionalizes the premise that immigrant crime is a distinct and significant threat, even though the research consensus — from the National Academies of Sciences, Cato Institute, PNAS, and multiple peer-reviewed studies — consistently shows immigrants commit crimes at roughly half the rate of native-born Americans. The office exists to reinforce a political message, not to fill a gap in victim services.

Cross-References

• Item #3: “650,000 arrests, detentions, and deportations” — VOICE reinforces the same “immigrant crime” narrative; the data from Item #3 shows less than 14% of ICE arrests involved people with violent criminal records, and 73.6% of detainees had no criminal conviction at all
• Item #4: “400,000 criminal aliens deported” — VOICE and Item #4 share the same premise (immigrants as criminal threat); Item #4’s analysis shows the most common conviction among ICE detainees was traffic violations, with only 5-7% having violent crime convictions

Sources

DHS. “Secretary Noem Announces Relaunch of VOICE Office Shuttered by Biden.” April 10, 2025. https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/04/10/secretary-noem-announces-relaunch-voice-office-shuttered-biden

Federal Register. “Executive Order 14159 — Protecting the American People Against Invasion.” January 29, 2025. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/01/29/2025-02006/protecting-the-american-people-against-invasion

ICE. “Victims Of Immigration Crime Engagement (VOICE) Office.” https://www.ice.gov/voice

ICE. “ICE Launches Victims Engagement and Services Line (VESL).” June 11, 2021. https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/ice-launches-victims-engagement-and-services-line-vesl

Immigration Policy Tracking Project. “DHS Creates Victims of Immigration Crime Enforcement Office.” https://immpolicytracking.org/policies/dhs-creates-victims-of-immigration-crime-enforcement-office/

Time. “Exclusive: Biden’s DHS Plans to Keep Office That Highlighted Immigrant Crime Under Trump.” May 14, 2021. https://time.com/6048445/donald-trump-victims-of-immigrant-crime-office-joebiden/

CBS News. “Biden Administration Dismantles Trump-Era Office for Victims of Immigrant Crime.” June 12, 2021. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-administration-dismantles-trump-era-office-victims-immigrant-crime/

Nowrasteh, Alex and Michelangelo Landgrave. “Illegal Immigrant Incarceration Rates, 2010-2023.” Cato Institute Policy Analysis No. 1003. August 26, 2025. https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/illegal-immigrant-incarceration-rates-2010-2023

Light, Michael T., Jingying He, and Jason P. Robey. “Comparing Crime Rates Between Undocumented Immigrants, Legal Immigrants, and Native-Born US Citizens in Texas.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 117, no. 51 (December 2020). https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2014704117

NPR. “Immigrants Are Less Likely to Commit Crimes Than U.S.-Born Americans, Studies Find.” March 8, 2024. https://www.npr.org/2024/03/08/1237103158/immigrants-are-less-likely-to-commit-crimes-than-us-born-americans-studies-find

Office for Victims of Crime. “Crime Victims Fund.” https://ovc.ojp.gov/about/crime-victims-fund

American Immigration Council. “DHS Launches Controversial Immigration Victims Office.” April 26, 2017. https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/blog/dhs-launches-controversial-immigration-victims-office/