Sponsors (4)
The bill expands support and information for victims' families and standardizes some program options, but ties eligibility and reporting to offender immigration/status criteria that create privacy, administrative, and equity trade-offs and will raise programmatic costs.
Families of homicide victims ("angel families") will become eligible for payment of medical bills, mental-health care, wage losses for emotional distress, and funeral costs, increasing direct financial and support relief for bereaved households.
A dedicated victims' hotline will provide immediate referrals and services, improving access to crisis support and help navigating resources after a crime.
Victims will be able to obtain releasable criminal or immigration history about alleged offenders, giving families more information to assess safety risks and track case status.
Tying eligibility to a perpetrator's immigration or criminal-organization status risks excluding many victims' families, creating unequal access to compensation based on the offender's identity.
Adding mental-health and emotional-distress wage-loss compensation broadens payouts and may require new federal or State funding, potentially raising taxpayer costs or reducing funds available to other victims or services.
Linking benefits to perpetrators' immigration/trafficking status will require verification of immigration status and other determinations, increasing administrative burden and compliance costs for States and the Office for Victims of Crime.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Adds "angel families" to federal victims-compensation eligibility and creates a DHS office to assist victims of crimes by noncitizens with services and reporting.
Introduced May 13, 2025 by Roger Wayne Marshall · Last progress May 13, 2025
Expands federal crime-victim compensation rules to let State programs provide benefits to “angel families” — immediate relatives of homicide victims when the killer was unlawfully present in the U.S. or a member of certain international criminal organizations — and allows compensation for medical (including mental health), lost wages from emotional distress, and funeral costs. Creates a new Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement Office at DHS to provide proactive services to victims of crimes by noncitizens, run a hotline, assist with custody/status information and referrals, collect victim/offender data, and deliver a case study plus annual reports to Congress.