New: Remember that new ICE office Trump created in the early day of his administration for victims of crimes committed by illegal immigrants? I took an in-depth look at how that's gone ⬇️ /1 buzzfeed.com/verabergengrue…
According to Trump's executive order, the Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement office (VOICE) was tasked with publishing reports of the widespread “victimization by criminal aliens” of US citizens that Trump spoke of during the campaign. But it never materialized. /2
It’s not for lack of resources. The new ICE office was allocated $1M and has 24 community relations officers, two program management analysts, a deputy assistant director, an acting assistant director, & six contractors in California who staff a hotline 12 hours a day /3 
Its first “quarterly report” was only released last week, 15 months after it launched, & covers April-Sept 2017. It doesn’t have statistics on crimes by illegal immigrants who in John Kelly's words "routinely victimize Americans & other legal residents” /4 ice.gov/sites/default/…
Here's what VOICE's first report does say: 55% of the calls were unrelated or "commentary." This included dozens of people reporting aliens of the UFO kind, reporting Melania for "stealing taxpayer funds," a man saying a "coyote stole his cat." You get the picture /5
1 in 5 callers used the VOICE hotline to denounce ex-spouses, neighbors, and business rivals they suspected of being in the US illegally. The office is adamant it's not mean to be used as a crime tipline, so they refer those calls to ICE. /6 buzzfeed.com/verabergengrue…
Most allegations — marriage fraud, faking signatures, employing undocumented workers — are a far cry from the violent crimes Trump cites and warns about. Here's an example of how he talks about crimes by illegal immigrants /7
Part of the problem is that the Trump administration has not defined what it calls “immigration crime.” VOICE's mission statement is vague - it supports American victims of “those with a nexus to immigration.” This has led to people using the hotline to report legal residents. /8
Most people who were referred to a local ICE officer when they called the hotline for victims of immigration crime were from LA, Miami, San Francisco and NYC. Shout out to the lone caller from Buffalo. /9
“Rolling it out the way they did it seems it’s designed to perpetuate this notion that all immigrants are a criminal threat. It’s clear this is not about helping victims but politics, & trying to push this false narrative” a former ICE director told me /10 buzzfeed.com/verabergengrue…
The hotline was meant for victims to get information about the immigration/custody status of alleged criminals who are undocumented immigrants. Then-DHS Sec John Kelly implied a lot of people were using it that way last June. VOICE's own report contradicts that /11
VOICE’s first quarterly report highlights seven case studies that resemble the stories of the “angel families” Trump has brought to rallies, the SOTU and the White House last week. /12 ice.gov/sites/default/…
ICE also released this video last week to mark the Victims Of Immigration Crime Engagement office's first year /13
Another serious issue – at least twice VOICE has released call logs via FOIA to @splinter_news & @azcentral which accidentally had info of callers and those they called about - names, phone #s, social security #s, addresses - and posted them online /14 azcentral.com/story/news/pol…
I asked when the next report will come out (we have no data past Sept 2017). Spokesperson told me while ICE “remains committed to publishing quarterly reports on the activities of the VOICE Office” there “is no timeline established yet for when the next report will be posted" /15
