Justice for Angel Families Act
The Justice for Angel Families Act is a Senate bill that expands existing crime victim compensation and creates a new federal office to assist victims of crimes committed by certain aliens. Specifically, it (1) expands the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) compensation program to cover “angel families”—immediate family members of homicide victims when the perpetrator is an unlawfully present alien or a member of an international drug cartel—with eligible costs including medical expenses, counseling, lost wages, and funeral expenses; (2) defines who qualifies as an “angel family”; and (3) creates a new Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement Office (VOICE) within the Department of Homeland Security to provide outreach, information, referrals, and case management for victims of crimes committed by unlawfully present or inadmissible aliens, along with annual reporting on this group. The bill also authorizes collection of metrics and a case study to evaluate services and requires a clerical update to the Homeland Security Act table of contents. In short, the bill aims to broaden financial relief for a new category of crime victims and establish a DHS office dedicated to supporting victims of crimes involving unauthorized or deportable aliens, with ongoing reporting on the impact and needs of these victims.
Key Points
- 1Expands VOCA compensation to include angel families for medical expenses, mental health counseling, lost wages tied to emotional distress, and funeral expenses related to a death from a compensable crime.
- 2Defines “angel family” as the immediate family of a homicide victim where the perpetrator is either an unlawfully present alien (per INA 212(a)(6)(A)(i)) or a member of an international criminal organization involved in drug trafficking (e.g., an international drug cartel).
- 3Establishes the Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement Office (VOICE) within the Homeland Security Act to serve victims of crimes committed by aliens who are inadmissible, deportable, or unlawfully present, and to support their families.
- 4VOICE duties include a victim-focused hotline, information and referrals about immigration enforcement/removal, assistance with custody status information, provision of releasable criminal/immigration history about the criminal alien, immediate services, and data collection to guide improvements.
- 5Requires an annual Congress report on victims of crimes by aliens, including case-study findings, demographics, locations, crime types, and whether the same aliens committed multiple crimes.
- 6Adds a clerical amendment updating the Homeland Security Act’s table of contents to include a new Section 104: Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement Office.