Missing and Murdered Indigenous People: Strengthening Public Safety in Tribal Communities

Subcommittee will come to order. Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare recess at any time. We welcome everyone's at uh to today's hearing on missing and murdered Indigenous peoples. I now recognize the gentlelady from Florida, Ms. Lita Lita from the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, to the republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. I now recognize myself for an opening statement. Good morning everyone. Thank you for being here, especially give my thanks to the witnesses. Today the Crime Subcommittee continues its work to prioritize victims of violent crime and strengthen public safety. When violence occurs, victims and families must have a thorough investigation, accountability and answers. For too many American Indian and Alaska Native families, violent crime is not just a statistics, it is a lived experience. A National Institute of Justice study found that more than eighty-four percent of American Indian and Alaska Native women, and more than eighty-one percent of men have experienced violence in their lifetime. More than half of Native women have endured sexual violence and more than half have endured physical violence by an intimate partner. These numbers should alarm every member of this committee, and they are even more troubling when the cases go unresolved. According to the la- latest biannual report from the Name Us system, my home state of Arizona ranks second in the nation for missing Indigenous persons, and first for unidentified deceased persons with tribal affiliation. These are more than numbers. In January twenty twenty five, fourteen year old Emily Pike, a member of the San Carlos Apache tribe, disappeared from a group home in Mesa. One month later, her remains were found near Globe, Arizona. Her cause of death was blunt force trauma. Her case is still open. In my district alone, the missing indigenous person cases of Elijah Wade-Andrews, Merle Begay, Mesteth, and Ryan Tom also remain open. I acknowledge a core challenge that tribal communities face. every day. Public safety in Indian County and Indian country requires navigating one of the most complex jurisdictional environments in the United States. Tribal officers, county sheriffs, state police, federal agents, and local departments often operate operate side by side, each with different authorities, responsibilities, and limits. In many cases, a single incident can involve four or five layers of jurisdiction. That complexity slows investigations, complicates communication, and creates gaps that criminals can exploit. This is exactly why strong federal leadership and clear statutory tools matter. One of the first bills I sponsored after my election was the Ashland Mike Amber Alert and Indian Country Act which I worked with the late Senator John McCain, to get passed into law. I made it a priority because it gave tribal communities the same coordination and notification tools every other community has when a child goes missing. In twenty twenty, President Trump signed Savannah's Act and the Not Invisible Act into law. Savannah's Act strengthened coordination among federal, state, tribal and local law enforcement and and improved guidelines, data collection, and access to criminal justice databases. The Not Invisible Act strengthened coordination across federal agencies, and established a commission focused on missing persons, murder, human trafficking, and other violent crime affecting Native communities. I also highlight a bipartisan fix, H R twenty one fifty, the TRACE Act, which is led by Mister Nagoose and Mister Burchett of who of which I am a cosponsor. It would add a data field to the national missing and unidentified person systems flagging whether a missing person was last seen on federal land. It is a small change that could meaningfully speed up jurisdictional coordination. Congress has taken real and meaningful steps to strengthen the federal response to missing and murdered indigenous persons, and to address the jurisdictional challenges that complicate these cases. The Trump administration and the Department of Justice have continued to build on these legislative foundations with strong sustained action. In April twenty twenty five, the Department of Justice launched Operation Not Forgotten, deploying FBI personnel to ten field offices to investigate unresolved violent crimes including MMIP in coordination with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and tribal law enforcement. In April twenty twenty six, the FBI FBI expanded that effort to eleven field offices, adding investigative, intelligence, and victim services. These deployments were significant, and they reflect a serious ongoing commitment by DOJ and the Trump administration to deliver justice for victims and answers for families. Direct violence is not the only way Native communities have been preyed on. Between twenty nineteen and twenty twenty three, thousands of Native Americans from Arizona and the Southwest were lured into fraudulent sober living homes under false promises of treatment. Once inside, victims were fed alcohol, fentanyl, methamphetamine and kept sick, compliant and billable. These operators charged Arizona's Medicaid program more than three billion dollars in behavioral health services between twenty twenty one and twenty twenty three much of it for care that was never delivered and the money stopped. Victims were dumped on the streets of Phoenix or abandoned in rural areas, often still intoxicated or high, with no transportation and no way to call for help. Many went missing. Many others died. This exploitation fed directly into Arizona's MMIP crisis, and Arizona was not alone. Similar schemes targeted Native communities in Montana, Oklahoma, the Dakotas, Texas, and across the Southwest. The pattern was the same. Vulnerable people were exploited, stripped of support, and left in danger. These coordinated fraud operations deepened the MMIP crisis far beyond a single state. Despite progress, jurisdictional complexity still makes these crimes difficult to investigate and prosecute. Effective public safety requires coordination. Law enforcement agencies must be able to communicate, share information, access relevant databases, and work across jurisdictional lines so those lines never become barriers to justice. There is much more work we need to do. And I look forward today to hearing from our witnesses about what is working, where gaps remain, what Congress and federal law enforcement can do to strengthen public safety and improve outcomes for tribal communities. I appreciate again our witnesses for being here and look forward to your testimony. I now recognize the gentlelady from Georgia, Ms. McBath, for an opening statement.

Thank you so much, Chairman Biggs. I am grateful to have the opportunity uh to discuss the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous people, or as we will call it today, MMIP. And that is exactly what it is. It is a crisis. Despite the great strides that we have made in the last five years to address violent crime domestic violence still plagues our country. In fact, according to a recent FBI report, violent crime within domestic relationships has consistently increased in recent years. The numbers grow even more alarming for indigenous Americans. There are many factors that contribute to the high victimization rate among indigenous women and our inability to address the MMIP crisis. The good news is that we simply are not helpless. In fact, back in twenty nineteen, the first Trump administration and Congress took several steps to better address the crisis. For example, Congress passed and Trump signed into law Savannah's Act and the Not One More Act, two bills aimed at improving the response to the M MIP crisis. Unfortunately, since Trump stepped back into office, his administration has done nothing but undermine these efforts. Today, our witness will describe the tragic effects of the Trump administration's unexpected cuts to millions in critical grant funding for tribal communities and tribal supporting organizations. According to a study conducted by the Urban Indian Health Institute, a significant number of tribes and organizations serving native survivors of violence rely heavily on federal funding for more than half of their budget. And as a result of the cuts, forty pers forty four percent of those organizations report that they will have to drastically reduce or cut survivor services. That includes safe housing, transportation, court accompaniment, and counseling. Make no mistake, lives will be lost because of these cuts. For far too long, missing and murdered Indigenous people have been ignored. Criminals have taken notice of this seeming indifference and found new ways to exploit and victimize vulnerable Indigenous people. In fact, the vast majority, a stunning ninety-six percent of Indigenous women who are victims of sexual violence, experienced that violence at the hands of non-native perpetrators, which has long been an obstacle to justice for these victims. To help address this issue, the twenty nineteen Violence Against Women Act reauthorization expanded the tra- the tribal criminal jurisdiction to include non-Indian offenders in case of domestic and dating violence, sexual violence, and stalking against Indian victims when the crimes occur on tribal lands. During this committee's mark-up of that legislation, nine Republicans, including the chairman of this subcommittee, voted in favor of an amendment to remove the provision to expand tribal jurisdiction from the underlying bill. Fortunately, the amendment failed. While the version marked up by this committee eventually stalled, the provision to expand tribal jurisdiction was eventually signed into law in twenty twenty-two. Despite past votes, I hope that this hearing is indicative of a genuine interest in addressing the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people. Let us all continue to elevate the needs of tribal communities across this country and hold this administration accountable for the countless ways that they continue to fail victims and survivors everywhere. I wanna leave you with the words of a participant from the Urban Indian Health Institute's study, and I quote, We hope you will stand with us to ensure that the future generations inherit not only the weight of our past, but the strength of our survival and the full support of a nation that honors its trust in treaty responsibilities. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I yield back.

Gentlelady yields back. I now recognize the ranking member of the full committee, Mister Raskin.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Welcome to our witnesses, and I wanna thank the distinguished uh ranking member of this committee for framing the discussion so well. I just uh wanna add some context. We are now forty-eight hours away from legislative adjournment of the one hundred and nineteenth Congress so when Thursday comes this will mark a substantive end. to this entire Congress, which has been historically unproductive, as the executive branch visits wreckage on so many parts of the country, including Indian country. This hearing is long overdue, but it is way too little and it is way too late. The Republican majority has controlled this subcommittee for four years. Why are we only having this hearing now, at the last possible minute, about a problem that's been plaguing Native communities across America for years? As our former colleague Marjorie Taylor Greene says, people are sick and tired of a feckless, useless Republican party that never does a damn thing. The crisis of missing and murdered indigenous people is not an issue to be politicized and picked up momentarily for electoral purposes. It deserves not only Congress's fleeting attention, but our serious intense attention and serious legislative action. This subcommittee has sat passive and silent for nearly two years as the Trump administration has slashed funding to tribal communities and steamrolled their sovereignty. I hope our hearing today will move us to be in a process of taking real action and galvanize the attention of the country. I hope when Congress comes back in November, we will work together to debate legislation

Gentlemen, yields back. Without objection all of the opening statements will be included in the record. We'll now introduce today's witnesses. We'll begin by introducing Ms. Abigail Echohawk. Ms. Echohawk is the Executive Vice President of the Seattle Indian Health Board and the Director of the Urban Indian Health Institute. She also serves on the Washington State Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People Task Force. We have Mr. uh, Trent Shores. Mr. Shores is the Managing Shareholder of the Tulsa office of Gable Gottwald's, an Oklahoma-based law firm. He previously served for nearly eighteen years in various r roles at the Department of Justice, most recently as the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Oklahoma. Mister Knutson, the Honorable Austin Knutson is the Attorney General of Montana, a position he has held since twenty twenty one. He previously served in the Montana House of Representatives, including as Speaker and as a County Prosecutor. And I'm introduce pleased to introduce from Arizona, my home state, Mister Myron Lizar Lizer, who served as the tenth Vice President of the Navajo Nation between twenty nineteen and twenty twenty three, a small business owner himself, He has been an advocate for Indian entrepreneurship and increasing investment in tribal owned businesses. I'm grateful to have all of you here today. We thank you for appearing. We'll now begin by swearing you in. If each of you would rise please and raise your right hand. Do you swear, affirm under penalty of perjury, that the testimony you are about to give is true and correct to the best of your knowledge, information and belief? So help you God. Let the uh record reflect that the witnesses have all answered in the affirmative. Thank you. Please be seated. Uh to all of our witnesses, please know that your written testimony will be entered into the record in its entirety. Accordingly, we ask that you summarize your testimony in five minutes. We'll begin first with uh Ms. Echohawk. You may begin.

Hello? Okay, it's on. Thank you Chairman Biggs and Ranking Member Beth and members of the committee. It is an honor to be here. My name is Abigail Echo Hawk. I'm a citizen of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma and the Director of the Urban Indian Health Institute. I get a lot of voicemails, I bet you're wondering why that's interesting here. I get a lot of voicemails that crackle with pain as soon as I pick them up. Whispers of " Abigail, is this you?" "He killed my baby, her bright eyes, her dark skin, and her Dakota eyes looking." at me as his bloody fist brutally murdered her. Abigail, I don't understand why his sentence was so light and why is he back rec- walking on our reservation. I did my best. I tried to connect her with resources and services, but as a direct result of the funding cuts that have been happening across the nation, when I got this phone call just a couple of months ago, there was a lack of resources and services and I was directing her to something that didn't exist anymore. The study by my organization titled Sacred Responsibility found that thirty-eight percent of these organizations were reducing the mental health services, forty-one percent of their advocacy services, the things this mother needed as she grieved the death of her baby as her killer continued to walk around the reservation. These services are the essential thing that are needed to ensure the healing of our people. And organizations like mine, the Urban Indian Health Institute, are gathering this data because it's not being done by the federal government. I didn't have any money for this study, I n- I seem to never have any money for the studies that I do. But yet our two thousand eighteen report that I released here at the Capitol, standing alongside one of the biggest advocates in Congress, Senator Lisa Murkowski, when we released our report in two thousand eighteen, brought the very first data ever seen on missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. Why is this happening so late? Why isn't anybody paying attention? Because I get voicemails. Shaking with anger just a couple weeks ago they said, Abigail, they won't test the rape kits. We've been gathering the rape kits and the s- beds won't test them, and the state won't test them, cuz they're not sure whose jurisdiction it is over these rapes of men, women, children. Rape kits that just sit while they fight over jurisdiction. It is essential for us to enact jurisdictional fix to recognize that tribal criminal jurisdiction over all people who are on the reservation regardless of race or ethnicity. We know that many of our people are victimized by non-Indians and that is a loophole of serial killers, a loophole of serial domestic violence perpetrators, a loophole of serial rapists who move from reservation to reservation what we call rez-hopping because they know they can brutalize us with absolutely nothing happened to them because they are taking advantage of the jurisdiction. The coalition of large tribes has offered this incredible fix. And I urge you, I urge you, it is essential that our people have safety in our homes and on our reservations, and the jurisdictional issues must be addressed. Another voicemail. Except for this one started with, "Auntie Abigail, is this you?" When I heard that young person's voice shaking on the other side, and I recognized somebody who calls me auntie, it's like I didn't wanna listen to the rest of it, because I knew what she was going to say, because I have lived what she has. I have lived as a six year old girl in a bathroom attempting to wipe away the blood running down my legs after a brutal rape. I, like her, was a young girl at the age of nine, attempted suicide for the very first time, hanging myself off my bunk bed, hiding the ligature marks, strangulation marks around my neck from my sister, who's the only one that noticed. Because there was no resources or services, and when I was brutally raped, what they said was, " We don't have the resources You're an Indian girl on Indian land and I suffered in silence with no resources available. And so, like many of our young people, all of the statistics of the high rates of suicide, I experienced that through my entire childhood. And it wasn't until I accessed the opportunities that our tribal people have, and our resources, our services, our victim advocacy, centered in our culture, that healing actually begin. Without those, I would not be sitting in front of you today answering, a call that says, " Auntie Abigail." It's happening to me too. Because I don't have a lot of answers to give, but I will always pick up the phone. And I urge every single one of you to take actions that are possible. Look at the Badges Act. Look at the Tribal Parity and Law Enforcement Act. Look at the Protect Act, which is sitting in committees right now that need mark-ups. We need you to move this forward. Because I cannot sit with that pain alone, and I'm s- here in front of you today saying, you have a responsibility to sit with it too. And it's hard to hear about rape, it's hard to hear about murder, but I tell you it's worse to live it. And without the resources, and without you standing with us, we will suffer in silence, but I will tell you, we will not suffer in silence alone. I stand here with my, not only my ancestors, but every woman, every child, and every person impacted by this crisis, not only behind my back but standing in front of me. They are what give me the strength to keep answering those phone calls that are sometimes I don't think I can answer anymore. But I will always answer them, and you have a responsibility to start to answer them too. Thank you.

General ladies, uh, the witness's time has expired. Thank you for your testimony. Now recognize Mister Shores for five minutes.

Good morning, Mister Chairman, Ranking Member. Members of the subcommittee, uh, halito chima chukma, uh, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. Uh, it's humbling of course to follow Miss Ekelhock and her passionate testimony. We have far too many victims in Indian country. Uh, certainly the issue of missing a murdered indigenous people is one that is prevalent, not just in my home state in Oklahoma, but throughout Indian country and the United States. I appear before you as a citizen of the Choctaw nation. As a former United States attorney and as someone who spent nearly eighteen years at the US Department of Justice working on issues just like this one, and in fact, this very issue, I helped to build the department's first national strategy to address MMIP. And that experience and my experiences in the court room and sitting in double wide trailers in Indian country taught me an important thing. This is not an issue where good faith is lacking. It's an issue where our follow-through must match our concern. Families have told us consistently what stands in their way, jurisdictional confusion, information that does not move fast enough, and travel departments that are stretched too thin. Much of what we need to address these problems does exist today, but more is always better. Our task now is to make sure that the resources available reach the communities and the people that need it most and that it stays there. Let me tell you two quick stories from Indian country. The first is about what happens when established relationships and the immediate use of national information tools are used to accomplish the core law enforcement purpose of protecting victims, holding accountable offenders. In Cherokee County, Oklahoma, a Native American man with mental health challenges went missing. Shawna Roach, an investigator with the Cherokee Nation Marshal Service, didn't wait. She immediately used the tools available to her, input the missing man's information into a national crime information database. Soon thereafter, she received a phone call from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The man had been found. This is an example of why access to information is so critical for tribal law enforcement services. That man was found safe over a thousand miles from home. Also this year we had an experience in Northeastern Oklahoma, where two Cherokee boys went missing. The same process happened. MMI P coordinator Shana Roach and the Cherokee Nation Marshals input that information and the boys were found in Las Vegas. They were returned home safely. When you have the tools and you know how to use them, we can have success stories. The second story is critical. It's about the Choctaw Nation and it's about domestic violence review dockets and prevention of domestic violence. It does not let a case end at sentencing. Our domestic violence review dockets are led by District Judge Amy Pierce at the chalk donation. Victims are given a powerful voice throughout the process, and the court's attention to the matter does not end when the case is sentenced. The offender is brought back in. There is strict probation. There are counseling and family and parenting classes. And what we saw in this last year, eighty-five offenders went through the program and only three re-offended. Those statistics are remarkable when you look historically and nationwide what recidivism rates are for domestic violence offenders. Every time we can help a victim of domestic violence, we may likely be preventing a future victim of MMIP. Those two stories point to something that I believe have uh has come true in these last eighteen years that I've been in this business. No single government can do this alone. We must work across jurisdictional lines. State, local governments must work with tribal partners. as the federal government must also do its part in upholding the federal trust responsibility. There is no more practical application of the federal trust responsibility than providing public safety in Indian country. Earlier this year we saw Oklahoma Attorney General Guenter Drummond convene his own Missing and Murdered Indigenous People subcommittee they met all over our state and I can tell you what they found in their published report was many of the same issues that we've been seeing for decades. Ten years ago I testified before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on this issue and on public safety's in Indian country and on Savannah's Act. Tragically we hear many of the same problems today, uh continue to be experienced by victims in Indian country. All of the recommendations that are contained in my testimony are born from my experience at the Department of Justice as an Office of Tribal Justice Deputy Director as a front-line prosecutor. as a tribal citizen myself and as someone today in private practice that continues to work with tribal attorneys general with victims of crime and with tribal justice systems I believe that together we can make a difference in addressing this issue but we have to have the willpower to carry through with our jurisdictional responsibilities provision of resources and a will to act not just listen. Thank you very much. I look forward to answering your questions.

Thank you, Mr. Shores. I now recognize uh, Mr. Leiser for his five minutes.

Oh, yate habenem. Good morning. Mister Chairman Biggs, Ranking Member McPath, members of the subcommittee, thank you for this opportunity to appear before you today. My name is Myron Leiser. I previously served as Vice President of the Navajo Nation, I appear today in my personal capacity. I do not speak for the present Navajo Nation government. I speak from the experience of having served our people and having seen the consequences when public safety systems do not work as they should. I do appreciate in his first term in two thousand nineteen, President Trump signed the executive order on MMIW, which launched Operation Lady Justice, and was the first president to deal with this weighty subject matter. The problem of missing and murdered Indigenous people is not new. Congress knows that. Tribal leaders know that. Families know it better than anyone. Ask the family of Ella Maybe-Gay. The question before us now, however, should be different. After years of task force appropriations, executive actions, federal initiatives, and promises of help and better coordination, why do Indigenous people still disappear or die without case is being promptly resolved. One answer is clear. We have built many programs, perhaps too many, but we have not yet built one continuously accountable system. A serious case on the Navajo Nation may pass through Navajo law enforcement, the FBI, a United States Attorney's Office, tribal prosecutors, victim advocates, state and local law enforcement, and multiple information systems. Each may have a authority and good people doing difficult work. But every time responsibility changes hands, there is an opportunity for evidence, information, time, or accountability to be lost. And our people. That is where Congress should focus. The Navajo Nation's experience demonstrates that federal, tribal federal coordination can work. There have been successful investigations and prosecutions, but successful coordination should not depend upon personal relationships. It should be built into the system. When the federal government declines prosecution, the tribal government should receive timely notice and any evidence while tribal prosecution remains possible. A federal declination should not automatically become the end of a case, where tribal sovereigns still has lawful authority to act. The Navajo Nation has spent several years building its major crimes capacity, specifically to investigate serious matters, including federally declined cases. The same principle applies before a case ever reaches a prosecutor. Evidence must be properly collected, preserved, documented, and transferred. Reports must be completed. Missing person information must be entered into appropriate databases and kept current. And someone must remain responsible for the case from the first report through the final disposition. Congress should not measure success by how many task force or how much money is appropriated. Those are inputs. The questions that matter to families are much simpler. Was my relative found? Was the case investigated? Or is it being prosecuted? If prosecution is declined, why? There must be accountability within tribal systems. Many tribal law enforcement programs operate with federal funding, or perform federal law enforcement functions under contracts or compacts. Tribal self-determination is essential, but self-determination and accountability are not opposites. Where federal funds are provided to deliver law enforcement services, there should be accountability to determine whether those services are being provided, whether investigations are timely, whether evidence is properly controlled. and weather deficiencies are corrected. Likewise, when federal systems fail, when federal law enforcement acts with indifference or fails to act with the fidelity and integrity they purport, they too should be held accountable. I suggest Congress operate on five areas. First, require a formal federal to tribal handoff process when serious cases are declined or materially delayed. Second, Establish measurable standards for evidence transfer, case tracking, database entry, inter-agency communication, and for collaboration on investigations that extend off the reservation. Third, invest directly in tribal investigators, prosecutors, victim advocates, forensics, evidence management, and technology. Doing so could mitigate or eliminate dependency on the FBI by allowing tribal investigators to present appropriate cases directly, to the US attorney for prosecution. Fourth, provide tribal governments with greater access to special tribal criminal jurisdiction and BIA special law enforcement commissioners allowing tribal law enforcement more legal resources to do their jobs effectively. I yield my time.

We we granted some extra time to to witnesses, so finish with your fifth.

I appreciate that. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. And fifth, require meaningful accountability, federal and tribal, for whether the public safety responsibilities being funded are being performed, and performed as intended or promised. Families should not have to understand federal Indian law before they can understand what happened to their loved one's case. They should not have to determine whether the FBI, tribal police, a prosecutor, or another agency is still responsible. Government should know. The Navajo Nation does not need another promise that the system will coordinate. Our people need a system in which coordination, collaboration, lawful handoff, and accountability are operating requirements. This is the standard by which those who accept responsibility for public safety should be judged. Thank you my relatives and my people. Additional details are in my full written statement. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Now I recognize Attorney General Kn Knudsen.

Chairman Biggs, Ranking Member Macbeth, members of the subcommittee. As the Attorney General of Montana and a former elected County Prosecutor in Indian country I'm grateful for the committee's attention to the missing and murdered indigenous persons crisis. We're no stranger to it in Montana, as missing indigenous persons accounted for thirty-one percent of our reported missing persons cases last year, but make up far less, only six percent roughly of our state population. Montana is also home to eight federally recognized tribes, which creates challenging jurisdictional issues for us as our state battles this issue. I'll start today by providing you with some statistics that helped me get a clear picture of the problem, when I was first briefed on the issue as Attorney General. And some of what I have to say is probably gonna surprise you. It's a common misconception that only women and girls are going missing. In twenty twenty five, forty eight percent of all people reported missing in Montana were male. and fifty-two percent were female. In the indigenous community that data, that data starts to skew, but there is still a large percentage of males that are reported missing. Last year, forty percent of the indigenous persons that went missing in Montana were males. Our current mainstream messaging that it's only a problem for females, leaves a large population of men and boys effectively ignored and left out of the conversation. I was also unsurprised and encouraged to find out that the vast majority of those that go missing statewide and in indigenous communities in Montana are found, come home, or are otherwise located. In fact, last year, our recovery rate in Montana was ninety-nine percent. And five people reported missing that year, twenty-twenty-five, still remain missing. And while a ninety-nine percent recovery rate is certainly welcome news, there are still forty-one indigenous persons missing today in Montana. Twenty-seven of whom have been missing for more than a year. We're doing what we can as a state, by leading the way for the rest of the country. At the Montana Department of Justice, we have a missing persons database that is up updated in real time, that highlights Indigenous persons' cases at the press of a button. We recently launched a public service announcement on TV and radio, to raise awareness and remind Montanans to look at the faces, actually look at the faces in our databases, and try to help bring us these missing folks home. My agency also administers the Montana Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Advisory Council and the state legislature recently enabled the, that group to receive donations that will help them fund projects to end the crisis. Earlier this year, the council launched a specialty license plate Montanans can purchase, when they register their car, to also help fund those projects. The council, the council also recommended, and the twenty twenty five Montana legislature, passed a resolution urging Congress to fully fund public safety and law enforcement in Indian country. Which brings me to why I'm here today. We need to work together to solve this problem. As State Attorney General, my hands are tied. I have no jurisdiction on tribal land. The Montana legislature can pass all the bills they want, but without action from Congress, we will never see meaningful change. You have the power to give tribes the authority they need, by removing unnecessary and confusing jurisdictional red tape. You can also give states some authority to help. My agents and law enforcement officers can't do anything on tribal lands unless they are asked by a federal agency. That results in wasted time, and wasted resources in some cases. For example, the Montana Department of Justice performs sexual and violent offender registry compliance checks, in the interest, in the interest of public safety. On tribal land we have no jurisdiction, and are required to go in with the US Marshals, rather than simply having our own sworn officers do the check. That's unnecessary red tape in the way of our efforts to deter repeat offenders, and protect Montana citizens. While we still have a long way to go, we are making progress. Recently one of my division of criminal investigation agents was cross-deputized federally. and will have the authority to lend more immediate support to help solve murders and find missing persons on reservations across the state on a case by case basis. I'm also grateful to the Trump administration for opening a FBI field office in Billings Montana which is a sign they are dedicating more resources to help address violent crime cases in cases that occur on tribal lands. Although reservations are sovereign nations exempt from Montana's standard reporting requirements, We have established agreements with seven of our eight reservations. These partnerships improve missing persons reporting, so we can find people and bring them home quickly. The missing and murdered Indigenous persons crisis has been plaguing our tribal communities for generations. I'm thankful to the Trump administration for taking the issue seriously, and to this committee for bringing this discussion to the table today, as you continue to explore ways Congress can help solve the problem. I'll look forward to answering any questions you may have for me. Thank you, Mister Chairman.

Thank you, Attorney General Knudsen. I now recognize the gentlelady from Florida, that first of all, I'll just say that uh we've concluded the witness's five minutes testimony. Now I'll recognize the gentlelady from uh from Florida for her five minutes, Miss Lee.

Thank you, Mister Chairman, and thank you to our witnesses for joining us here today. For families who are experiencing the unimaginable of a missing or murdered loved one every hour matters, And when responsibility is divided amongst tribal, local, state, and federal authorities, we need to make sure that complexity does not become an obstacle to efficient resolution and to justice. So I am so interested in hearing today and speaking with all of you about where our response is working where it's breaking down and most importantly what we can be doing as Congress to make sure that law enforcement has the tools and the resources that they need to resolve these cases effectively. Mister Leiser, I'd like to uh start with you. Uh, I represent Florida, and and we have tribal communities in Florida. The Department of Justice has worked with both the Seminole and Miccosukee tribes on protocols for responding to missing and murdered indigenous people's cases. Um, from your experience, what should Congress be asking tribal and local law enforcement to make sure that those protocols are actually working, not just on paper, but in real cases in those crucial first few hours after someone goes missing?

Thank you for the question. Um, I think it's crucial that communication lines be open back and forth, you know, the families that are affected, their loved ones missing, uh, their heightened, uh, uh, sense of uh emotions, emotional state needs to be buoyed by um, just uh information, empath, empathetic information and compassionate, and I think that's what's missing from the government outreach. Tribes always beg for meaningful consultation, so h with that in mind, I think a um uh, ex, an exerted effort on compassion and in in the outreach, so uh and then the communication, hundred percent communication no matter what it is, and I know there's protocols, but when families are hurting and families are are trying to find that they're missing family members, then this is where I think uh the break happens between government, which seems to be a lot of times cold, but uh you know when empathy is is given and compassion, I think this is where we could round a little bit more support and a little bit more understanding.

Thank you, and I agree, that is such an important part of any sort of criminal case, is building those solid relationships with family and approaching uh these types of investigations in the right way. Mister Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to enter the relevant page of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's twenty twenty-three annual workload report into the record.

Without objection.

Now um Attorney General Knudsen, I'd like to return to you. Also, Mister Chairman, where's our clock? Uh, there, okay, there we go. When, when you have limited investigative resources and a large number of unresolved cases, uh, talk to us a bit about how you determine which cases get immediate attention, and how do you ensure in your office that a missing s person's cases involving a woman or a child is treated with the urgency it deserves uh even before there may be

Uh, thank you Mister Chairman and and Congresswoman. Uh, that's easy in an office like mine because we're a small state. Uh, I, I don't have an army of DCI agents. That's our state division of criminal, division of criminal investigation. Uh, it's our state analog to the FBI. I, I don't have an army of agents. I've got about a dozen major crimes agents, I got about a dozen narcotics agents. Uh, so because we are so small, we're able to be nimble. Uh, but I, I come back to specific to this issue, I mean we just, we, we don't have authority on, on our reservations where a lot of these cases do originate. There are instances where we have outreach from, from the tribal government, they'll, they'll, they'll ask for our assistance. Uh, candidly that does not hap happen often. Uh, more often than not, that, that jurisdiction lies almost completely and solely with the feds. Um, if you'll excuse my, my brevity. Uh, uh, again I, I'm heartened that we have a new FBI office getting opened up in Billings. Uh, candidly as a former prosecutor from Indian country, that was always one of our biggest stumbling blocks, was just lack of federal resources, uh, especially in rural Montana. We didn't have a lot of FBI agents who were in a big hurry to travel to Poplar. Um, so, uh, hopefully with, with those new resources and billings in eastern Montana, that's gonna be a big help to us.

Thank you. That insight about what's actually happening on the ground, and how we can be helping to provide additional resources is exceptionally

General Lady Yields, I now recognize the uh ranking member of the subcommittee, Miss McBath, for five minutes.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, the twenty thirteen Violence Against Women Act, or we'll call it VAWA, reauthorization, it it actu extended tribal criminal jurisdiction further to include non-Indian offenders. In cases of domestic and dating violence, sexual violence, stalking against Indian victims when the conduct occurs actually on tribal lands. The twenty twenty-two VAWA reauthorization further expanded criminal jurisdiction over non-Indian offender to tribes, including assault of tribal justice personnel, child violence, obstruction of juxt justice and sex trafficking. Miss Echo Hawk, how has this expansion of jurisdiction helped tribal law enforcement in addressing the MMIP crisis. And how has this expansion of jurisdiction actually fallen short as well?

The expansion was absolutely essential for us to be able to begin to prosecute individuals. When we look at the state of Alaska, for example, who was finally included in Davawa, we now see two tribes who are implementing and working as hard as they can to implement and to be able to do those kinds of prosecutions. However, there has not been enough dedicated resources given to them in order to do that. And they're reliant on working and trying to engage with the state who, um, not only in Alaska but across the nation, the states also don't always cooperate with them. And so there is a need for further training that comes from the Department of Justice, further training that the state needs to be, um, have a better understanding of how to work across these communities. And if we're gonna have true fulfillment of our treaty and trust obligations, we need the actual funding, not just what's written on paper, that says, " Okay, go out and do this." But if we don't have the resources to do it, we're building something from the ground up. In order to make those effective, we're gonna need it. And so we have to partner with other things that are going on. So for example, um, we were just asked what is actually working. Operation Not Forgotten by the FBI has been an incredible, incredible result across Indian country. It is going to sunset. That means they're ending this, what they call a surge, at the end of this month. In the last six months of data they reported, They recovered four hundred and thirty-eight children. Four hundred and thirty-eight of our children are back in the homes that they belong to. And yet we continue to see things that are also part of the training that is needed, that when we think about not only VAWA authorization, but they go in and they work um, and we actually studied and found that a lot of these folks who receive this funding are training law enforcement on how to work within our communities. One of the biggest things that happens, um, and I can point to specific examples, in Montana and in Arizona specifically, of where people do not take missing persons reports. I have worked significantly in both of those areas. Very recently, just two weeks ago, I was talking to members of family of Emily Pike. I have the story of Kisara stops pretty places. Those folks and others have always struggled with getting the resources they need from the state and as a lack of training and the stereotypes that exist within our people they'll do things like okay my relative has gone missing, yes they suffered from substance abuse disorder, we don't know where they are. The reason the Medicaid fraud happened was because nobody cared the Indians went missing. That's the root cause. If we don't address that, if we don't provide the training that it was supposed to happen under VAWA, under a Savanas Act and the Not Invisible Act, we're not going to address this and we need to recognize that seventy-eight percent of American Indians and Alaskan Natives do not live in reservations, but in large urban areas, and the exact same crisis is affecting them as it is the reservations.

Okay, thank you so much for that. And I w- I have another question for you as well. I understand the Office on Violence Against Women just held its annual tribal consultation. What were the most pressing issues raised during this year's consultation? You have probably already touched upon those. Uh, and what role do you believe Congress can play in addressing those concerns that were made?

Right now, we had the report that was done by, under the Not Invisible Act, and they re- produced a report called Not One More. Now, this is the voices of families from across the nation, listening sessions where families cried, wept, and shared their greatest pain and grief. That has been removed from all federal web sites. However, we've been told that the recommendations are being implemented across federal agencies but nobody's actually told us what that means. We need a coordinator to come in that says, okay, this is what's happening at the FBI, this is what's happening at the Office of Violence Against Women, for us to come together and understand what actually has been implemented from that report and what actions are being taken now to continue to implement that report. Our families suffered, and now their voices were raised, make it worthwhile, make sure those recommendations are being put into place.