| 1 | 1 | | I |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 47 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To establish the Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement Office within |
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| 6 | 6 | | the Department of Homeland Security, and for other purposes. |
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| 7 | 7 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 8 | 8 | | JANUARY3, 2025 |
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| 9 | 9 | | Mr. B |
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| 10 | 10 | | ERGMANintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the |
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| 11 | 11 | | Committee on the Judiciary |
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| 12 | 12 | | A BILL |
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| 13 | 13 | | To establish the Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement |
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| 14 | 14 | | Office within the Department of Homeland Security, and |
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| 15 | 15 | | for other purposes. |
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| 16 | 16 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 17 | 17 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 18 | 18 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 19 | 19 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Victims Of Immigra-4 |
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| 20 | 20 | | tion Crime Engagement Restoration Act’’ or as the 5 |
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| 21 | 21 | | ‘‘VOICE Restoration Act’’. 6 |
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| 22 | 22 | | SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 7 |
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| 23 | 23 | | Congress finds the following: 8 |
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| 24 | 24 | | (1) In April 2017, the United States Depart-9 |
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| 25 | 25 | | ment of Homeland Security launched the U.S. Im-10 |
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| 27 | 27 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2 |
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| 28 | 28 | | •HR 47 IH |
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| 29 | 29 | | migration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Victims 1 |
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| 30 | 30 | | of Immigration Crime Engagement Office (VOICE) 2 |
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| 31 | 31 | | in response to the Executive Order 13768 issued by 3 |
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| 32 | 32 | | President Donald J. Trump entitled Enhancing 4 |
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| 33 | 33 | | Public Safety in the Interior of the United States, 5 |
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| 34 | 34 | | which directed DHS to create an office to support 6 |
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| 35 | 35 | | victims of crimes committed by criminal aliens. 7 |
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| 36 | 36 | | (2) In June 2021, the United States Depart-8 |
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| 37 | 37 | | ment of Homeland Security terminated VOICE pur-9 |
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| 38 | 38 | | suant to the Executive order on the Revision of Civil 10 |
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| 39 | 39 | | Immigration Enforcement Policies and Priorities 11 |
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| 40 | 40 | | issued by President R. Joseph Jr. 12 |
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| 41 | 41 | | SEC. 3. VICTIMS OF IMMIGRATION CRIME ENGAGEMENT 13 |
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| 42 | 42 | | OFFICE. 14 |
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| 43 | 43 | | (a) E |
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| 44 | 44 | | STABLISHMENT.—There is established the Vic-15 |
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| 45 | 45 | | tims of Immigration Crime Engagement Office (herein-16 |
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| 46 | 46 | | after in this Act referred to as ‘‘VOICE’’) within the U.S. 17 |
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| 47 | 47 | | Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which shall pro-18 |
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| 48 | 48 | | vide assistance to victims of crimes committed by aliens 19 |
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| 49 | 49 | | present in the United States without lawful status under 20 |
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| 50 | 50 | | the immigration laws, in addition to witnesses and legal 21 |
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| 51 | 51 | | representatives of individuals acting at the request of a 22 |
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| 52 | 52 | | victim or witness. 23 |
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| 53 | 53 | | (b) D |
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| 54 | 54 | | UTIES.—The duties of VOICE are to do the fol-24 |
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| 55 | 55 | | lowing: 25 |
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| 58 | 58 | | •HR 47 IH |
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| 59 | 59 | | (1) Use a victim-centered approach to acknowl-1 |
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| 60 | 60 | | edge and support persons who are victims or wit-2 |
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| 61 | 61 | | nesses described in subsection (a) and their families. 3 |
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| 62 | 62 | | (2) Promote awareness of available services to 4 |
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| 63 | 63 | | such persons. 5 |
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| 64 | 64 | | (3) Build collaborative partnerships with com-6 |
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| 65 | 65 | | munity stakeholders assisting such persons. 7 |
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| 66 | 66 | | (c) A |
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| 67 | 67 | | SSISTANCE.—The types of assistance authorized 8 |
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| 68 | 68 | | to be provided by VOICE to such persons impacted by 9 |
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| 69 | 69 | | crimes committed by aliens described in subsection (a) in-10 |
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| 70 | 70 | | cludes— 11 |
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| 71 | 71 | | (1) the establishment and operation of a dedi-12 |
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| 72 | 72 | | cated toll-free VOICE Hotline to answer questions 13 |
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| 73 | 73 | | from victims; 14 |
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| 74 | 74 | | (2) local contacts to help with unique requests 15 |
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| 75 | 75 | | from such persons; 16 |
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| 76 | 76 | | (3) access to social service professionals able to 17 |
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| 77 | 77 | | refer victims to resources and service providers; 18 |
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| 78 | 78 | | (4) assistance signing up to receive automated 19 |
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| 79 | 79 | | custody status information regarding an alien de-20 |
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| 80 | 80 | | scribed in subsection (a) held in custody; and 21 |
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| 81 | 81 | | (5) additional criminal or immigration history 22 |
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| 82 | 82 | | may be available about an illegal alien to victims or 23 |
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| 83 | 83 | | their families. 24 |
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| 86 | 86 | | •HR 47 IH |
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| 87 | 87 | | (d) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 1 |
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| 88 | 88 | | of the enactment of this Act, VOICE shall publish quar-2 |
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| 89 | 89 | | terly reports to Congress, the Secretary of Homeland Se-3 |
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| 90 | 90 | | curity, and the President of the United States studying 4 |
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| 91 | 91 | | the effects of the victimization by aliens described in sub-5 |
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| 92 | 92 | | section (a) present in the United States. 6 |
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| 93 | 93 | | Æ |
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