Rep. Ruben Gallego released a statement on the newly released U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) study on the violence crisis against American Indian and Alaska Native women in the United States.
In May 2019, Rep. Gallego and other members of Congress sent a letter to the Comptroller General of the United States requesting the GAO investigate and make recommendations on how to address this crisis. Gallego, a member of the House Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the U.S., has repeatedly brought attention to the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. He presided over the first-ever House hearing on the issue in March 2019.
In April 2019, Rep. Gallego introduced bipartisan legislation to address the issue of violence against Indigenous women. In October 2020, President Donald Trump signed into law Savanna’s Act and the Not Invisible Act, two pieces of legislation co-sponsored by Rep. Gallego which help protect Native women and girls.
Ruben commented, “For too long, government and law enforcement ignored the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women. That began to change last Congress, and it continues to be my priority to shed light on and reduce the unacceptably high rate of violence perpetrated against Indigenous women. The findings of this report confirm what Indian Country and advocates know: there is more that must be done to end this crisis. Both tribal and federal officials agree that we are failing to protect Indigenous women, and I am committed to working with the Department of Justice and the Department of the Interior to ensure this report’s recommendations are swiftly implemented.”
The GAO study gave four recommendations to help the government develop plans to implement the requirements in Savanna’s Act and the Not Invisible Act. They recommend that the Attorney General analyze data in existing federal databases and future data to identify relevant trends in cases of missing or murdered American Indian and Alaska Native women and areas of concern. Next, the AG should develop a plan to educate the public about the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) and conduct specific outreach to Indian tribes and tribal organizations regarding the ability to publicly enter information through NamUs or other non-law enforcement sensitive portals. Finally, the study recommends that the Attorney General finalize its draft plan establishing and appointing all members to the Joint Commission on Reducing Violent Crime Against Indians, as required by the Not Invisible Act of 2019.
