“There is a crisis in Tribal communities. A crisis of violence, a crisis of abuse, and a crisis of abject neglect affecting Indian Women & Men, Indian Children, and Indian Elders. The federal government must act now; not tomorrow; not next week; not next month; and not next year. Once and for all, the federal government must end its systematic failure to address this crisis and react, redress, and resolve this. We call on the federal government to declare a Decade ofAction & Healing to address the crisis of missing, murdered, and trafficked Indian people.”—The Not Invisible Act Commissioners
President Joe Biden on Friday delivered a proclamation on Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day, which is today, May 5. In part, it reads:
For decades, Native communities across this continent have been devastated by an epidemic of disappearances and killings, too often without resolution, justice, or accountability. On Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day, we honor the individuals missing and the lives lost, and we recommit to working with Tribal Nations to end the violence and inequities that drive this crisis, delivering safety and healing.
Across Indian Country, justice for the missing has been elusive for too long. Too many Native families know the pain of a loved one being declared missing or murdered, and women, girls, and LGBTQI+ and Two-Spirit individuals are bearing the brunt of this violence. In the depths of their grief, the work of investigating these disappearances, demanding justice, and fighting for the hopeful return of their loved ones has fallen on the shoulders of families. Legions of brave activists have sought to change that. We need to provide greater resources and ensure the accountability that every community deserves.
It’s not really known how many Indigenous men, women, and children have vanished or been murdered. Three years ago, a report by the U.S. Department of interior’s Office of Justice Services stated, “Statistics show is that approximately 1,500 American Indian and Alaska Native missing persons have been entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) throughout the U.S, and approximately 2,700 cases of Murder and Non-negligent Homicide Offense have been reported to the Federal Government’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program. In total, BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) estimates there are 4,200 missing and murdered cases that have gone unsolved.”
And most of the missing and murdered are women. The report continues: “For decades, Native American and Alaska Native communities have struggled with high rates of assault, abduction and murder of women. Community advocates describe the crisis as a legacy of generations of government policies of forced removal, land seizures and violence inflicted on Native peoples.”
In fact, violence against Indigenous women is outrageously commonplace. In a 2016 study by the National Institute of Justice, 56% of Native women surveyed said they had experienced sexual violence in their lifetime. The murder rate for Natives women is 10 times the rate for the general population. Murder is the third leading cause of death of Native women and girls under 20, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Perpetrators are often non-Natives. Few of these cases make the news.
Within the first 100 days of the Biden-Harris administration, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, herself a citizen of the Laguna Pueblo, created a Missing and Murdered Unit within the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Office of Justice Services to share information, cooperate in investigations, and provide leadership and direction for interagency work on the crisis.
In November 2021 at the White House Tribal Nations Summit, President Biden signed Executive Order 14053 on Improving Public Safety and Criminal Justice for Native Americans and Addressing the Crisis of Missing or Murdered Indigenous People. This directed the departments of Justice, Interior, and Health and Human Services to work with Native tribes to improve the safety and health of tribal communities, with a focus on prevention and intervention. In 2022, Biden signed the Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization Act of 2022 into law. This included provisions to deal with the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous peoples across the nation. At the same time, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (a division of the Department of Interior) and the FBI announced they had agreed to work cooperatively with culturally sensitive investigations.
Before taking the Interior post, Haaland as a Congresswoman sponsored the Not Invisible Act, which Congress passed in 2020. This established the Not Invisible Commission, comprising enforcement, tribal leaders, federal partners, service providers, family members of missing and murdered Indigenoous people (MMIP), and survivors. The commission’s mandate was to make recommendations for federal action the federal government can take to help combat violent crime against Indigenous people and to address the epidemic of missing persons and the murder and trafficking of American Indian and Alaska Native peoples.
In November, the commission issued its 212-page report. Its numerous recommendations are extensively detailed and broad. They cover a lot of ground, from lack of adequate funding to lack of cooperation with authorities. There was also a cautionary note:
A Renewed Demand for Action
Importantly, Commissioners acknowledge that many of the findings and recommendations arising from the work of the Commission are not new. Since at least the American Indian Policy Review Commission in the 1970s, federal, state, and Tribal commissions, task forces, and working groups have been convened every few years and have made many of the same recommendations presented by this Commission, which demonstrates the depth and longevity of the issues and the consensus as to the nature and type of responses that are needed to address these issues. Reports such as A Quiet Crisis, Broken Promises, and A Roadmap for U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (Indian Law and Order Commission) have emphasized the high rates of crime impacting Tribal communities; the significant underfunding of Tribal justice systems; the byzantine process for administering funds that are available; the limits on Tribal jurisdiction; and the unsatisfactory response by state and federal justice systems who have the authority to address many crimes on Tribal lands. This report reiterates many of the findings and recommendations of these reports. The Commission understands, and shares, the frustration that arises when it seems that repeated calls for action yield little change, but it is our sincere hope that the continued and resounding call for improvements in public safety for Indian country and Alaska Native villages will finally be heard and this Report will serve as a catalyst for change.
Darlene Gomez, an attorney who represents families of missing and murdered Indigenous people, found the report valuable. She told reporter Jeanette DeDios, “I think this report really took in everything that's going on in Indian country, from the federal level, to the state level, and to victims and how it impacts almost all of the communities.” She especially agrees with recommendations in the report calling for more interagency cooperation, but says “it seems like that is going to be difficult because everybody operates under their own regulations.”
In March, in a 231-page reply, the Interior Department gave a detailed response to each of the commission’s recommendations. Neither the commission’s report nor the reply is fodder for casual reading. Indeed, there’s a lot of boilerplate. Here’s a sample:
COMMISSION FINDING A: There is woefully insufficient funding to support public safety in Indian country and Alaska Native Villages.
Commission Recommendation A1: A cross-agency, federal and non-federal, committee or commission must be involved in review of public safety budgets by all federal agencies in an ongoing and regular manner to inform and advise on the President’s annual budget request and Congressional appropriations. While the Secretary of the Interior’s Tribal Advisory Committee and the Tribal Interior Budget Council do provide this review for DOI, a single entity across BIA,27DOJ, and HHS is needed to fully understand and make recommendations for improvements to federal money flows for public safety across Tribes and Alaska Native Villages.
Response: The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) and U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) appreciate the interest in cross-agency coordination on budget development and that this recommendation is intended to institutionalize non-federal input in the federal budget process. The agencies further recognize that this proposal is intended to support Tribes’ ability to identify funding priorities and provide input into funding distribution across agencies. In response to this need, President Biden recently signed Executive Order 14112, Reforming Federal Funding and Support for Tribal Nations To Better Embrace Our Trust Responsibilities and Promote the Next Era of Tribal Self-Determination, focused on funding issues that will help usher in a new era of self-determination. As part of this Executive Order, the President directed the White House Council on Native American Affairs, the Office of Management and Budget, and the White House Domestic Policy Council to work across the federal government to measure the chronic funding shortfalls of existing federal funding for Tribes and develop recommendations for what additional funding and programming is necessary. Federal agencies will be required to report annually on their progress in implementing those recommendations.
There’s been some law enforcement action as reported in this Deseret News story last October: FBI ‘surge’ to tribal lands results in arrests and investigations:
The bureau announced the results of the operation on Friday, where more than 40 FBI special agents, intelligence analysts and victim specialists were assigned across 10 field offices, most in the West.
That includes the Salt Lake City field office, which received six special agents and a staff operations specialist who were on assignment between July and September. A special agent was also assigned to Vernal.
“We recognize that Indigenous women and children are too often the victims of violent crime,” said Shohini Sinha, Special Agent in charge of the Salt Lake City FBI office. “This operation reaffirms our commitment to keeping our tribal communities safe and working closely with our tribal partners to hold perpetrators accountable. Every victim matters, and every family deserves justice for criminal actions against their loved ones.”
The issue of missing and murdered Indigenous people was long something that only got discussed among Natives. Getting anyone else interested was too often met with the brush-off. Some Natives have become deeply involved in solving the crisis.
For instance, Meet the Native American Activist Fighting the Crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples with Ohkomi Forensics. Haley Omeasoo was 20 when she saw a flier for missing person, a former high school classmate, Ashley Loring Heavyrunner. It wasn’t the first time she had seen someone she knew listed as missing. Omeasoo is a citizen of the Hopi Tribe and a descendant of the Blackfeet. The case went the way of many, with an apathetic response by law enforcement. “It’s why I decided to go into forensics,” she said.
Now, a doctoral student, she founded Ohkomi Forensics earlier this year. The nonprofit brings to missing and murdered people cases what is often missing—forensics anthropology, and DNA testing. The name means “to use one's voice” in the Blackfeet (Niitsitapii), language. Omeasoo told Elyse Wild, “The idea of what we do is to restore the voice of those that can no longer speak for themselves. And so that's kind of what I hope my company will do is to kind of tell their story, you know, and use our voices for them.”
With Ohkomi Forensics, Omeasoo has become part of the legion of Native people erecting their own resources to fill these yawning gaps that leave many cases unsolved. MMIP groups span Indian Country, leading searches, posting information on missing people on social media platforms, acting as intermediaries between families and law enforcement, and raising awareness. [...]
Charlene Sleeper (Cheyenne & Arapahoe, Chippewa-Cree), who runs a Billings, Mont. based MMIP group, says she was thrilled when Omeasoo started Ohkomi. She points out that forensics are not only key in identifying remains and determining what happened, but in bringing justice that is not often seen in Indian Country.
"Forensics are key to gathering reliable evidence to support prosecution in these cases," Sleeper said. “I celebrate that she is doing this, that her organization exists.
Related:
Missing and Murdered Indigenous People(MMIP): Overview of Recent Research,Legislation, and Selected Issues for Congress