President Joe Biden is opening a backdoor amnesty for illegal aliens while American victims of illegal immigration and open borders are getting no such relief, Angel Families who spoke to Breitbart News say.
After decades of no help from the federal government, Angel Families — the surviving family and friends of Americans killed by illegal aliens — finally saw an answer to their prayers when former President Donald Trump opened the Victim Of Immigration Crime Engagement (VOICE) office at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.
VOICE, spearheaded by former ICE official Barbara Gonzalez, helped Angel Families track their cases against accused illegal aliens who victimized their family members. If an illegal alien had already been convicted, VOICE would ensure that Angel Families knew when parole hearings, release dates, and deportation proceedings were occurring.
“The VOICE office was a place for us to turn to, to get answers & help us through the steps to get information,” Angel Mom Michelle Root, whose 21-year-old daughter Sarah Root was killed by an illegal alien in January 2016 in Iowa, told Breitbart News. “Most of us had no one to turn to when our loved ones were killed.”
This week, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced that the administration would be disbanding VOICE, renaming the office Victims Engagement and Services Line (VESL).
VESL, top DHS officials said, will allow Angel Families to call into a hotline to request information on criminal cases.
The office, though, is being expanded to allow illegal aliens claiming to be crime victims to be referred to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) agency for potential immigration relief in the form of U and T visas.
“I am one of those victims and my son was the collateral damage of open borders and illegal immigration,” Angel Mom Maureen Maloney, whose 23-year-old son Matthew Denice was killed by an illegal alien in August 2011, said.
“When your child or loved one is killed your world comes crashing down on you. You need a safe haven where you can get truthful answers and assistance. With the opening of VOICE victims of illegal alien crime finally had that,” Maloney said. “The Biden administration’s closing of the VOICE office and opening the VESL office to assist illegal aliens is akin to Biden spitting on my son’s grave and the graves of all those killed by illegal alien crime.”
The U and T visas set to be made available to illegal aliens who contact VESL are coveted immigration documents because they put them on a track for green cards and, eventually, American citizenship — serving as a kind of backdoor amnesty where American victims are shut out of any such comparable relief.
The decision “shows their open contempt” for Angel Families, Cheryl Peters Wendland — whose loved one 39-year-old Corey Cottrell was killed by an illegal alien in June 2019.
Angel Mom Mary Ann Mendoza, whose 32-year-old son Brandon Mendoza was killed by an illegal alien in May 2014 in Arizona, told Breitbart News that ICE officials have yet to answer her questions as to what will classify illegal aliens as “crime victims” and thus make them eligible for U and T visas to remain in the U.S.
While illegal aliens who call VESL may become eligible for U and T visas, American victims will get no such relief such as payment for funeral costs, ongoing hospital bills, and medical services as a result of crimes committed by illegal aliens, Mendoza said.
“Since the death of my son, I have met so many new Angel Moms and Angel Dads and I would forward them to VOICE to get help they desperately needed and deserved,” Angel Mom Sabine Durden, whose son Dominic was murdered by an illegal alien in July 2012 in California, told Breitbart News.
“To think that that same office is now also helping — aiding and abetting — illegal aliens is mind-blowing, insulting, maddening, and not just a slap in the face of all victims of illegal aliens, but this administration is spitting on the graves of our loved ones,” Durden said.
Angel Dad Chris Odette, whose 13-year-old daughter Chrishia was killed by an illegal alien in September 2014, said the silence from Republican and Democrat lawmakers over Biden’s closing of VOICE to begin providing services and potentially visas to illegal aliens is deafening.
“My shock, pain, and feeling of betrayal leave me to ask one important question. Where is the U.S. Congress?” Odette told Breitbart News. “Why don’t I hear Senate or House members, no matter the party, asking this administration why it is okay to end a victim advocacy group for Americans to help non-U.S. citizens?”
“Why isn’t anyone asking or demanding the program stay and this administration start a new group for the other purpose?” Odette continued. “Why does it feel our Congress is so silent on this issue and leaving all Angel Families to suffer and mourn in silence?”
The only legislation in the Senate to provide some form of relief to Angel Families is Sen. Thom Tillis’ (R-NC) Justice for Victims of Sanctuary Cities Act which would give surviving family members a route to sue sanctuary jurisdictions in civil court when their loved ones are victimized by an illegal alien.
Tillis, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has yet to move the legislation forward despite it having 15 co-sponsors, including other Republican members of the committee such as Sens. Josh Hawley (R-MO), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), and Mike Lee (R-UT) and an endorsement from Trump.
Yet, in March, Tillis suggested he would consider supporting amnesty for illegal aliens so long as it is “paired with border security.”
For many Angel Families, Biden’s dismantling VOICE puts them back to square one.
“The VOICE office was the one service provided to victims of illegal alien crime and now that is gone,” Don Rosenberg, whose 25-year-old son Drew Rosenberg was killed by an illegal alien in 2010 in California, said.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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