Skip to content

Republish This Story

* Please read before republishing *

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Creative Commons license as long as you follow our republishing guidelines, which require that you credit The 19th and retain our pixel. See our full guidelines for more information.

To republish, simply copy the HTML at right, which includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to The 19th. Have questions? Please email [email protected].

— The Editors

Loading...

Modal Gallery

/

Menu

  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships
    • From the Collection

      Changing Child Care

      Illustration of a woman feeding a baby a bottle
      • As climate change worsens hurricane season in Louisiana, doulas are ensuring parents can safely feed their babies

        Jessica Kutz · May 5
      • Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito argued abortion isn’t an economic issue. But is that true?

        Chabeli Carrazana · May 4
      • Pregnant people are at 'greater risk' in states hit hard by wildfire smoke, air pollution, new report shows

        Jessica Kutz · April 20
    • From the Collection

      Next-Gen GOP

      Illustration of a woman riding an elephant
      • Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

        Candice Norwood · June 21
      • A banner year for Republican women

        Amanda Becker · November 11
      • Republican women could double representation in the U.S. House

        Amanda Becker · November 4
    • From the Collection

      On The Rise

      Illustration of three women marching
      • Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s swearing in makes history during unprecedented time for the Supreme Court

        Candice Norwood · June 30
      • Biden’s new environmental justice office aims to tackle the health impacts disproportionately faced by people of color

        Jessica Kutz · June 2
      • Jessica Cisneros takes on the last anti-abortion U.S. House Democrat

        Amanda Becker · February 25
    • From the Collection

      Pandemic Within a Pandemic

      Illustration of four people marching for Black Lives Matter with coronavirus as the backdrop
      • Some LGBTQ+ people worry that the COVID-19 vaccine will affect HIV medication. It won’t.

        Orion Rummler · November 23
      • Why are more men dying from COVID? It’s a complicated story of nature vs. nurture, researchers say

        Mariel Padilla · September 22
      • Few incarcerated women were released during COVID. The ones who remain have struggled.

        Candice Norwood · August 17
    • From the Collection

      Portraits of a Pandemic

      Illustration of a woman wearing a mask and holding up the coronavirus
      • For family caregivers, COVID is a mental health crisis in the making

        Shefali Luthra · October 8
      • A new database tracks COVID-19’s effects on sex and gender

        Shefali Luthra · September 15
      • Pregnant in a pandemic: The 'perfect storm for a crisis'

        Shefali Luthra · August 25
    • From the Collection

      The 19th Explains

      People walking from many articles to one article where they can get the context they need on an issue.
      • The 19th Explains: How pregnant people can prepare for a summer of heat waves

        Jessica Kutz · June 17
      • The 19th Explains: How new Title IX guidelines on sexual misconduct may give more help to survivors

        Nadra Nittle · June 14
      • The 19th Explains: How would overturning Roe v. Wade affect IVF?

        Jennifer Gerson · May 27
    • From the Collection

      The Electability Myth

      Illustration of three women speaking at podiums
      • Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

        Candice Norwood · June 21
      • Stepping in after tragedy: How political wives became widow lawmakers

        Mariel Padilla · May 24
      • Do term limits help women candidates? New York could be a new testing ground

        Barbara Rodriguez · January 11
    • From the Collection

      The Impact of Aging

      A number of older people walking down a path of information.
      • 'I'm planning on working until the day I die': Older women voters are worried about the future

        Mariel Padilla · June 3
      • Climate change is forcing care workers to act as first responders

        Jessica Kutz · May 31
      • Woman alleges that an assisted living facility denied her admission because she is transgender

        Sara Luterman · November 8
    • From the Collection

      Voting Rights

      A series of hands reaching for ballots.
      • Florida’s redistricting fight continues. The head of the state League of Women Voters talks about what’s at stake.

        Barbara Rodriguez · April 19
      • Women have been sounding the alarm ahead of Texas’ first-in-the-nation primary

        Barbara Rodriguez · February 28
      • LGBTQ+ people of color are at risk from rising voter restrictions as federal protections falter in the Senate, advocates say

        Orion Rummler · January 19

    View all collections

  • Explore by Topic

    • Abortion
    • Business & Economy
    • Caregiving
    • Coronavirus
    • Education
    • Election 2020
    • Elections 2022
    • Environment & Climate
    • Health
    • Immigration
    • Inside The 19th
    • Justice
    • LGBTQ+
    • Politics
    • Race
    • Sports
    • Technology

    View All Topics

Home
  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships

We’re an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy. Read our story.

Support The 19th

As a nonprofit newsroom, members are critical to our sustainability. Your financial support helps make our journalism possible.

Become a Member

Donate to support our mission

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

A makeshift memorial barring flowers on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation
A makeshift memorial stands near the scene where Charlene Mancha was murdered by her husband in 2017 on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Browning, Montana. According to research, about half of indigenous women have experienced sexual violence and physical violence by an intimate partner. (Photo by David Goldman/AP)

Justice

Biden signs executive order to address the ‘crisis of missing or murdered Indigenous people’

A government report warned of gaps in law enforcement coordination and the tracking of cases for a vulnerable population.

Mariel Padilla

General Assignment Reporter

Mariel Padilla portrait

Published

2021-11-15 16:32
4:32
November 15, 2021
pm

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

President Joe Biden signed an executive order Monday aimed at improving public safety and criminal justice for Native Americans, who are targets of violent crime at a rate much higher than the national average. 

In the executive order, the Biden administration committed to working with tribal leaders when creating policy that affects their populations, coordinating a federal law enforcement strategy across departments, supporting tribal law enforcement agencies, improving data collection and strengthening community-based services for survivors.

“Generations of Native Americans have experienced violence or mourned a missing or murdered family member or loved one, and the lasting impacts of such tragedies are felt throughout the country,” Biden said in a statement. 

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

More than 5.6 million people identify as an American Indian or Alaskan Native, according to 2019 census estimates. Nearly 85 percent of Indigenous women said they had experienced violence and about half of Indigenous women have experienced sexual violence and physical violence by an intimate partner. The vast majority of Native American survivors also report being harmed by a non-Indigenous person, according to the Biden administration. 

In 2020, Congress passed two pieces of legislation — Savanna’s Act and the Not Invisible Act of 2019 — to address some of these shortcomings. However, the Department of Justice and Department of the Interior have still not fulfilled certain requirements set by those acts, according to GAO.

Biden said that previous executive actions have not been sufficient to “reverse the epidemic” of violence against American Indians.

A newsletter you can relate to

Storytelling that represents you, delivered to your inbox.

You have been subscribed!

Submitting…

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please try again later.

“For far too long, justice has been elusive for many Native American victims, survivors and families,” Biden said. 

Tribal leaders have long spoken about an apparent lack of urgency to Indigenous women murder cases because of historic and systemic racism and prejudice. The total number of missing or murdered women, however, is unknown, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). After reviewing the federal response to what officials and tribal leaders have called “a crisis,” the GAO highlighted reasons why the data is incomplete and provided recommendations to improve the federal response. For instance, fear or mistrust of law enforcement leads to underreporting, and misclassifications of race and manner of death often muddy the numbers. 

In addition, federal law does not require tribal law enforcement agencies to report missing children under the age of 21, according to a report published last month. And federal, state and local law enforcement agencies are not required to report those over the age of 21 who are missing. 

To further complicate the government’s ability to address the violence, the location of death affects who is responsible for investigating and exacting justice. For example, if an Indigenous woman was murdered off of tribal land, the case would fall under the state to prosecute. But if an Indigenous woman is killed by an Indigenous person on tribal lands, the case would fall under federal and tribal jurisdiction — unless the murder occurred in Alaska, California, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oregon or Wisconsin — where it would fall under state and tribal jurisdiction. 

In all cases, however, tribes have no jurisdiction over murder cases where the accused is not a Native American — even in the cases of murdered Indigenous people. The Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization of 2013, however, recognized tribes’ power to prosecute non-Native Americans in certain domestic and dating violence crimes.  

  • More from The 19th
    A man wearing a cowboy hat kneels to touch a tomstone in a field at golden hour.
  • ‘It’s like no one is looking for us’: How can states help when women of color go missing?
  • Deb Haaland asks America to teach the history it doesn’t want to repeat

Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, the first Native American Cabinet secretary of an executive branch agency, spoke before Biden signed the order on Monday during the first annual White House Tribal Nations Summit. The summit, which was scheduled during Native American Heritage Month, was held virtually because of the pandemic, which disproportionately wreaked havoc in tribal communities. 

“The White House sits on the ancestral homelands of the Anacostan and Piscataway people,” said Haaland, addressing leaders from more than 570 federally recognized American Indian tribes. “I hope that the ancestors are smiling down as we take the next few days to work together on the challenges and opportunities facing Indian country. The fact that I’m making these remarks in front of you today feels like a dream that was envisioned by the ancestors long before now.”

In April, Haaland announced the formation of a new Missing & Murdered Unit focused on Indigenous women and girls. Last year alone, at least 100,000 women of color were reported missing, according to the National Crime Information Center — a database that is only accessible to criminal justice agencies.

In her first eight months since she was confirmed as secretary, Haaland has focused on environmental justice, climate change, missing and murdered Indigenous women and the intergenerational impact of Indian boarding schools that resulted in the death of thousands of Native American children. 

“I embraced my identity as a descendant of boarding school survivors and advocated for my community by organizing indigenous voters to increase our presence at the polls, so that we would have a voice in our government’s decisions,” Haaland told tribal leaders. “I knew even then that in spite of seemingly insurmountable odds, we are still here and we have a voice.”

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Support The 19th

As a nonprofit newsroom, members are critical to our sustainability. Your financial support helps make our journalism possible.

Become a Member

Donate to support our mission

Up Next

Farm workers wait in line at a California ranch.

Coronavirus

White House announces $785 million of pandemic relief funds will support communities of color

A task force pushes for more representation in health care, better data collection and community-led solutions to combat inequitable health outcomes.

Read the Story

The 19th
The 19th is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Our stories are free to republish in accordance with these guidelines.

  • Donate
  • Subscribe to the Newsletter
  • Attend an Event
  • Jobs
  • Fellowships
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Community Guidelines
  • Membership
  • Membership FAQ
  • Major Gifts
  • Sponsorship
  • Privacy
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram