Feds: More needs to be done to address crisis of missing, murdered Indigenous people

Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes

WASHINGTON — Federal officials say more needs to be done to address the disproportionate number of murdered and missing person cases impacting Native American communities across the country.

In response to a series of recommendations issued last November to deal with the missing or murdered Indigenous peoples crisis, the heads of the U.S. Departments of Interior and Justice are also expressing sympathy.

"We see you and hear you, and you have our sincerest condolences," U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in the response issued Monday. "No one should have to experience the loss of a loved one — let alone losses across generations — due to a lack of resources, jurisdictional complexities or unnecessary bureaucracy."

What exactly comes next, though, remains unclear, though the officials recognized the need for additional moves and expressed a willingness to follow through with more action. In making the recommendations outlined in the Nov. 1, 2023, report, Not one More, members of the Not Invisible Act Commission made a site visit to the Navajo Nation, among many other tribal locations. The Navajo Nation covers portions of southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona and northwestern New Mexico where the states meet.

"These recommendations are an important and necessary step toward healing the trauma, pain and loss that tribal communities have endured for generations," Garland said in a statement. "The Justice Department is committed to working with our partners at the Department of the Interior to put an end to the missing or murdered Indigenous persons and human trafficking crisis."

Haaland said addressing violent crimes impacting Native American communities has long gotten short shrift but that efforts of groups like the Not Invisible Act Commission, created in 2022, help counter that. "This will ensure that epidemics like the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Crisis and Human Trafficking are addressed with the resources they demand," she said in Monday's response.

The issue comes into relief with the periodic release by the Navajo Nation Police Department of missing persons posters. The poster released on Feb. 26 contained the names of 73 missing Navajo Nation residents, some missing since the 1970s. But the crisis affects more than just the Navajo Nation.

According to Monday's response document issued by the Departments of Justice and Interior, American Indians and Alaska Natives, particularly women, face "a disproportionate risk of homicide" relative to most other racial and ethnic groups.

The age-adjusted homicide rate for female American Indians and Alaska Natives was 5.7 per 100,000 from 2018 to 2021. That's "more than double the national average and second only to non-Hispanic Black women (7.6 per 100,000)," according to Monday's response.

Thousands of American Indians and Alaska Natives are reported missing each year; and while the "vast majority" of them are ultimately located, the population is particularly hard hit.

"Separate research suggests that certain public safety challenges faced by many (American Indian/Alaska Native) communities — including disproportionate violence against women, families and children; substance abuse; drug trafficking; and labor and sex trafficking — can influence the rates of missing (American Indian/Alaska Native) persons," reads Monday's document.

The recommendations from last November by the Not Invisible Act Commission run the gamut. Broadly, they entail bolstering of law enforcement resources, improved reporting and collection of data, better recruiting of tribal police officers, improved resources for victims and their families and more.

The formal 231-page response "recognizes that more must be done across the federal government to resolve this long-standing crisis and support healing from the generational traumas that Indigenous peoples have endured throughout the history of the United States," reads a press release accompanying it. The press release, though, doesn't specify any follow-up steps.

'We stand in solidarity'

In crafting the Nov. 1, report outlining the Not Invisible Act Commission's recommendations, members of the group took testimony from 260 people. The Not Invisible Act, signed into law in 2020, created the commission in a bid to find ways to counter the disproportionate number of missing people and murder cases impacting the U.S. Indigenous community.

"They hoped — sometimes very faintly because their hopes had been dashed so many times — that their stories might help bring about positive change. We are so grateful for the stories, and we honor those who told them. We stand in solidarity with them and their rightful demand for long-overdue justice and change," reads the Nov. 1 report.

Amber Crotty, a delegate from the Navajo Nation, took part in a hearing in Flagstaff, Arizona, and some of her comments were included in the Not Invisible Act Commission report. She addressed the sort of law enforcement response Native American communities should get.

"We must make sure that members of our community get the same response as someone with blond hair and blue eyes in the city would receive. Our responders need the same level of training and tools that those in the cities have," she said. "Reporting is complicated because so many of our members live off or between reservation and the city. Reporting goes both ways and must get the same amount of attention on the reservation and the city."