On January 25, 2017, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, signed the VOICE program under an executive order, which consists of a telephone line to allegedly assist victims of immigrants.
According to the objectives of the Criminal Immigration Victims Office, VOICE serves to support immigration crime victims and their families. Promote awareness of rights and services available to immigration crime victims. Build collaborative partnerships with community stakeholders assisting immigration crime victims, and provide quarterly reports studying the effects of the victimization by criminal aliens present in the United States.
Although the portal states that the service is for: "victims of crime; Witnesses of crimes; Persons with some legal responsibility to victims or witnesses, such as lawyers, parents, legal guardians, etc.; and persons acting at the request of a victim or witness," 1-855-48-VOICE is being used to inform the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) where the undocumented are located.
According to the website Foreing Policy, former director of ICE, Sarah Saldaña confirmed that people were doing misuse of the telephone line. "As far as I understand, what is being reported is: 'Oh, I see my neighbor. He looks Mexican. I want to report it. Maybe someone can come and take it," Saldaña said.
El Diario NY reported that those in charge of monitoring the program had acknowledged that some people had misunderstood the purpose of the program, which is to care for victims of crime, not to report any possible undocumented.
After VOICE was created, activists from the California Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Asian Americans Advancing California Justice, the California Immigrant Policy Center (CIPC), the Immigration Resource Center (ILRC) and the National Network of Day Laborers (NDLON), classified the office as a project that incites hatred towards immigrants.
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