New Act Creates Victim Grants and DHS Office Focused on Crimes Committed by Unlawfully Present Aliens

The “Justice for Angel Families Act” is a two-part bill that focuses on providing specialized support and compensation to victims of crimes committed by certain individuals, specifically those who are unlawfully present in the U.S. or involved in international drug cartels.

New Grants for 'Angel Families'

Section 2 of the bill creates a new category of beneficiaries under the existing Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) grants, defining specific groups as “angel families.” This term applies to the immediate family members of homicide victims where the killing was committed by either an alien unlawfully present in the U.S. who has been ordered to leave, or a person involved in an international criminal organization trafficking controlled substances.

For these families, the grants cover three main areas: medical costs, funeral expenses related to the death, and—this is key—lost wages due to emotional distress caused by the crime. Typically, VOCA compensation covers lost wages only if they result from a physical injury. By explicitly including wage loss due to emotional distress, the bill expands who can qualify for financial help. Essentially, if a person has to miss work because of the trauma, they can seek compensation, which is a significant change for this specific group of victims.

A New DHS Office for Victim Engagement

Section 3 establishes a new office within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) called the Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement Office. This office is tasked with giving proactive, timely, and professional help to victims and their families when the crime was committed by an alien who is inadmissible, deportable, or unlawfully present in the U.S. This isn't just a paper-shuffling office; it's mandated to provide direct services.

The Director of this new office must create a dedicated hotline to connect victims with social service referrals and help them understand the complex immigration and removal process. The office also ensures victims and their families can sign up for automatic updates on the perpetrator’s custody status and share any “releasable” criminal or immigration history about the offender. For a victim trying to navigate the criminal justice system while dealing with trauma, having a single point of contact for status updates and referrals could be genuinely helpful.

The Real-World Impact: Specialized Support vs. Unequal Treatment

For the people this bill targets—the families of victims—the benefits are clear. The financial assistance is more comprehensive than standard victim compensation, and the new DHS office offers specialized support that traditional victim services might not be equipped to handle, especially regarding immigration status and custody tracking. Think of a parent trying to get answers about the person who harmed their child; this office is designed to cut through bureaucratic red tape.

However, the bill also creates a very specific carve-out for victims based on the immigration status of the perpetrator. This raises questions about resource allocation. If you are a victim of a crime committed by a U.S. citizen, your access to compensation and specialized support remains limited to the existing, often strained, state-run VOCA programs. By creating a new, federally funded office and specialized grant eligibility for one group, the bill risks creating a hierarchy of victim support, potentially straining the already limited resources available for general crime victims across the country. Additionally, the new DHS office will be collecting detailed demographic data on victims and offenders and reporting it annually to Congress, which will significantly increase the data available on crimes committed by certain alien populations.