Secretary Noem Meets with ‘Angel Families’ in California as DHS Relaunches VOICE Office
Bakersfield, CA — Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem met Thursday with “Angel Families”—relatives of individuals killed by undocumented immigrants—during a visit to California, signaling a renewed federal focus on crimes committed by non-citizens.
The meeting, referenced in a statement by Secretary Noem on Friday, highlights the Trump administration’s move to reinstate the Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement (VOICE) office. The office, originally established during Donald Trump’s first term, is designed to provide support services and information to victims of crimes committed by individuals with uncertain immigration status.
“Yesterday, I had the honor of meeting with Angel Families who lost their loved ones to criminal illegal aliens,” Secretary Noem stated. During the emotional gathering in Bakersfield, Noem spoke with families who shared stories of their losses, which they attribute to failures in border enforcement. The Secretary emphasized the administration’s commitment to “interior enforcement” and deportation operations as a means of preventing future tragedies.
Background on VOICE and ‘Angel Families’
The term “Angel Families” gained political prominence during the 2016 election cycle, used by the Trump campaign to describe families whose loved ones were killed by undocumented immigrants. The designation is often employed to advocate for stricter border policies, contrasting the “permanent separation” of these families from their deceased relatives against the temporary separation of migrant families at the border.
The VOICE office was first launched in 2017 to acknowledge these victims and provide a dedicated line of communication for them within the Department of Homeland Security. Critics of the office during its initial operation argued that it served a primarily political purpose by spotlighting crimes committed by a specific demographic to justify hardline immigration policies. The Biden administration had largely deprioritized the office, shifting focus toward more general victim support services regardless of the perpetrator’s immigration status.
Statistical Context and Objections
While the narratives shared by Angel Families are undeniably tragic, criminologists and immigration advocacy groups argue that they do not reflect broader statistical realities regarding immigration and public safety.
Extensive research, including a 2023 study by Stanford University economists, indicates that immigrants are significantly less likely to be incarcerated than reliable U.S.-born citizens. The study, which analyzed 140 years of census data, found that first-generation immigrants have lower incarceration rates than the native-born population. Similarly, research from the Cato Institute and the University of Wisconsin-Madison has consistently found that undocumented immigrants have lower criminal conviction rates compared to native-born Americans for violent crimes, property crimes, and homicide.
Critics of the administration’s approach argue that focusing disproportionately on crimes committed by undocumented immigrants “weaponizes grief” and fuels xenophobia by painting a distorted picture of migrant criminality. They contend that resources would be better spent on community-wide crime prevention that serves all victims, rather than segregated offices based on the immigration status of the perpetrator.
Despite these objections, the reinstatement of the VOICE office remains a central pillar of Secretary Noem’s agenda, fulfilling a key campaign promise to prioritize the concerns of American victims of border-related crime.
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