The Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday will open a new office tasked with highlighting crimes committed by people who are in the country illegally.

The Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement office, or VOICE, will track crime trends and serve as a kind of liaison for victims and their families. The office was a top priority identified by President Donald Trump five days after he took office, and it will be housed within Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"There are lots of offices and entities that do similar things for crime victims writ large, but nobody has the level of understanding of immigration that ICE does," Homeland Security spokesman David Lapan said in a press briefing Tuesday. "And so it's a way to keep victims and their families informed not just about the criminal justice aspects of their particular case, but the immigration aspects," namely "where things are in the immigration process as well as the criminal justice process."

The VOICE office's opening will represent one of the Department of Homeland Security's top accomplishments in the president's first 100 days in office, Lapan said.

However, much about the office's responsibilities or operations remained unclear ahead of Wednesday's formal announcement at ICE's headquarters in the nation's capital. ICE has wider latitude than other Homeland Security agencies to share information about particular immigration cases, for example, but the scope of that authority – and what exactly ICE will be allowed to share with victims and their families – remains to be seen.

Democratic lawmakers, immigration advocates and civil rights groups, meanwhile, have argued that the VOICE office may inflame anti-immigrant discrimination by associating immigrant communities with danger.

"The murder of anyone is a tragedy, and our hearts go out to all families who lose a loved one to violence," Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont said in a Facebook post Feb. 28, shortly after the president referred to the office in his first joint address to Congress. "But let's be clear about what Donald Trump is doing tonight in inviting family members who saw a loved one murdered by an undocumented immigrant. He is stirring up fear and hatred against immigrants and trying to divide our nation."

The president, meanwhile, has maintained that the VOICE office will serve as a crucial resource and representative for victims of crime committed by people in the country illegally.