Henry Cuellar: “I oppose this amendment. There are already avenues for victims of crime to engage with both the Department of Homeland…”

“I oppose this amendment. There are already avenues for victims of crime to engage with both the Department of Homeland Security's Victims Engagement and Services Line or the Department of Justice's Office of Victims of Crime. The Department of Homeland Security has protection for victims, and the Department of Justice also has the Office of Victims of Crime. This office would be duplicative of those efforts and would be a waste of taxpayer dollars. We are doing that already. Frankly, when you say this, you are basically taking the position that crime only occurs when you have a migrant. The stats do not support this conclusion. In fact, the Department of Justice released a study in 2020 and found that undocumented immigrants had substantially lower crime rates than native-born citizens and legal immigrants across the range of felony offenses. I don't care where the attack came from. I want to support the victims. I want to support the victims, and that is what the Department of Justice's Office of Victims of Crime does. Let's support that office and provide it more funding. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.”