ACTION ON MISSING NATIVE AMERICANS
NM’s Haaland says it falls short
Executive order creates a White House task force to combat killings, disappearances in Indian Country.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday creating a White House task force on missing and slain American Indians and Alaska Natives.
Attorney General William Barr and Interior Secretary David Bernhardt will oversee the task force, which will develop protocols for new and unsolved cases, and create a team to review cold cases.
Trump called the scourge facing American Indian women and girls “sobering and heartbreaking.” He said, “We will leverage every resource we have to bring safety to our tribal communities … .”
Trump’s announcement comes after Barr said the Justice Department would invest $1.5 million to hire specialized coordinators in 11 U.S. attorney’s offices with significant caseloads from Indian Country to respond to missing persons cases, and committed FBI resources. Barr said the agency also would analyze federal databases and its data collection process.
U.S. Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., said, “The DOJ’s plan reflects a lack of consultation with tribes, which is a pattern of this administration on all Indian Country issues,” she said. “This plan doesn’t include the adequate amount of funding that tribes have continuously asked for or the coordination at the local and tribal level where they know the issue best.”
The National Institute of Justice estimates that 1.5 million American Indian women have experienced violence, including sexual violence. On some reservations, federal studies have shown women are killed at a rate over 10 times the national average.
The executive order also directs the Justice Department to make grant funding available to improve public safety in tribal communities.
Trump was joined by representatives of the Navajo Nation, which extends into New Mexico, Arizona and Utah; the Crow Nation in Montana; and the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe and the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in Minnesota.
Fond du Lac Chairman Kevin DuPuis highlighted women as caretakers of children and tribal villages and said it’s imperative that they be protected and not treated as second-class citizens.
“It’s very, very important that we, as a people, have a true identity,” he said. “And when we lose our women and we lose our children, that goes with them.”
The task force is expected to report on its work in a year.