Haaland creates unit to "pursue justice" for missing and murdered Native Americans

[demmiblue]

The Department of Interior on Thursday announced the creation of a new unit within the Bureau of Indian Affairs tasked with supporting investigations into missing and murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives.

Why it matters: Approximately 1,500 American Indian and Alaska Native missing persons cases have been reported to the National Crime Information Center, and about 2,700 cases of murder and nonnegligent homicide offenses have been reported to the federal government, according to the Interior Department.

The number of cases, however, is feared to be much higher, rights groups say.

According to the Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women, Indigenous women in the U.S. face murder rates more than 10 times higher than the national average.

https://www.axios.com/interior-indigenous-murder-missing-persons-unit-b3f84126-660e-4d46-bcf5-e626fa77aa29.html

[secondwind]

1. It's about time. Good stuff here...

[efhmc]

5. Been talking about this for years. So great something is being done.

[Wounded Bear]

2. A very under-reported story...good to see some federal action, finally...nt

[AZLD4Candidate]

3. The movie Wind River deals with this issue. I recommend it completely.

It was an amazing Indie movie.

[NJCher]

4. thanks

will definitely check this out.

[usaf-vet]

7. Agreed great movie! Now maybe finally we will have a group dedicated to finding and documenting....

.... missing Native American women.

[dlk]

9. Wind River was a deeply moving film for me

Thanks for the reminder!

[wnylib]

11. I saw this movie a few months ago.

Gruesome, but excellent. I recommend it.

[LymphocyteLover]

12. Yes, excellent movie

[usaf-vet]

6. Great news. We live 70 miles from a port that leads to ocean travel. Since we...

... have lived here we have had dozens of Native American women and others disappear from the port region forever.

There have been some local attempts to investigate these disappearances but I believe with little success.

[Jay25]

8. Finally! Hopefully something can be done about the rapes that seem to always fall into a loophole

[RussellCattle]

10. The only thing that might make me happier on this Friday morning would be to read.....

.....that she is also creating another unit to look into the malfeasance that has cheated Native-American tribes out of billions in royalties for oil, gas and minerals on tribal land. I'm hoping for that announcement on Monday morning.

[LymphocyteLover]

13. AWESOME!!

[Solly Mack]

14. K&R