Two members of the Arizona congressional delegation, Congressman Ruben Gallego and Congressman Tom O’Halleran, recently introduced legislation designed to support the Native American community in Arizona.
Gallego, Former Chairman of the House Indigenous Peoples of the U.S. Subcommittee, recently introduced the Native American Child Protection Act (NACPA). The bill seeks to authorize three programs aimed at ensuring that Tribes have the tools they need to treat, prevent, investigate, and prosecute instances of family violence, child abuse, and child neglect involving Native American children and families. This includes establishing a new National Indian Resource Services Center and authorized grants towards the Indian Child Abuse Treatment Grant Program and the Indian Child Protection and Family Violence Prevention Program. NACPA passed by voice vote on May 12, 2021.
In a recent statement, Ruben Gallego expressed the importance of this legislation, “The federal government has a solemn trust responsibility to ensure the protection of the most vulnerable members of Indigenous communities: children.”
Additionally, Tom O’Halleran led a bipartisan effort supporting the Native American community through a re-introduction of the Blackwater Trading Post Land Transfer Act. Passed on May 12, 2021, his legislation aims to bring the Blackwater Trading Post, near Coolidge and owned by the Gila River Indian Community, into trust status.
“Blackwater Trading Post has been an important community site for the Gila River Indian Community for over a hundred years; they have every right to this land, and it is my honor to build upon the efforts of many in the Community to bring them into trust,” said Tom O’Halleran, following the vote. “I was humbled to be able to re-introduce this legislation, and I am thrilled to move forward with bipartisan, bicameral support.”
