The Task Force on Missing and Murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives was created by executive order last week. The order went into effect on Dec 2nd, 2019.
According to the Urban Indian Health Institute, there were close to 6,000 missing or murdered Native American girls and women in 2016. Only 116 cases were put into the Justice Department’s database. Native American women are killed at 10 times the national average.
The task force aims to encourage the FBI and other government agencies to work together to solve the problem.
“This is a great day for Lady Justice,” Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Tara Sweeny said.
With this new legislation, local and tribal police would be able to get assistance from the FBI. The agency would deploy special teams of investigators to lend their experience to assist in the investigations of missing Native Americans.
Attorney General Robert Barr says the government will spend $1.5 million dollars to hire coordinators to oversee the efforts.
Native American communities are plagued by poverty, drug, and alcohol abuse which critics say leads to officials not taking the cases of missing women seriously. This situation has similarities to Southeastern Ohio where cases of missing and murdered women have made national headlines.
To view the Executive Order, just CLICK HERE