Federal government releases response to commission on missing and murdered Indigenous people
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – In an ongoing effort to tackle the issue of Indigenous individuals going missing and being murdered at troublingly high rates, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of the Interior have released a response to the Not Invisible Act Commission’s recommendations.
The Not Invisible Act commission was created to help improve the federal government’s response to the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous people across the nation. Near the end of last year, the commission released recommendations.
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In response, the DOJ and Department of the Interior have released a large report to acknowledge and address those recommendations.
“Addressing violent crimes against Indigenous peoples has long been underfunded and ignored, as a cause of intergenerational trauma that has affected our communities since colonization,” Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland said in a press release. “Through historic efforts like the Not Invisible Act Commission, we’re identifying recommendations created by Indian Country, for Indian Country. This will ensure that epidemics like the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Crisis and Human Trafficking are addressed with the resources they demand.”
Among the topics noted in the report, the federal agencies acknowledge that there are limitations on data collection, which make it hard to address the problem of missing and murdered Indigenous individuals. The DOJ also noted expanded efforts to help survivors of crime.
