Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women

In 2020, Congress passed the Not Invisible Act to help address the Missing and Murdered Persons Crisis. The bill formed a federal commission made up of tribal leaders, federal agencies, families, and survivors, who were tasked with developing recommendations on how best to address the crisis. The Department of the Interior and the Department of Justice responded to these recommendations in early March.

A national center for Native radio and TV broadcasters is leading an effort to establish a national alert code for missing and endangered adults.

At a press conference in Fort Washakie on February 8, the FBI announced a new initiative to gather more data about Native Americans who’ve gone missing or been murdered in cases that haven’t been closed. The agency is seeking tips from the public to better understand what the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples (MMIP) crisis looks like in the state and what resources the agency can contribute to solving cases.

The federally created Not Invisible Act Commission is calling for a “decade of action and healing” to address the epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons. The commission released a 212-page report with recommendations.

Indigenous journalists from the U.S. and Canada gathered recently in Winnipeg for a conference on important issues - like the missing and murdered.

Next to the Canadian Museum For Human Rights is a small encampment with a handful of tents and a camp kitchen. Signs are posted all around – some read “we are not garbage” and “search the landfills.”

President Joe Biden signed a proclamation marking May 5th, 2023 as Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day. It highlights the injustice and violence that are disproportionately high among Indigenous women and others.

The crisis has been a focus for the Biden Administration but the rollout of federal solutions has been slow.

The crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people has been a focus for President Biden’s administration since he took office. But the rollout of federal solutions has been slow, and states have been picking up the slack

The FBI in New Mexico recently released a public list of almost 180 missing Indigenous people throughout the state and Navajo Nation. They’re hoping that groundwork could be a model around the Mountain West and the nation to create similar lists.