Letter to Hon. Merrick Garland, Attorney General, and Hon. Debra Haaland, Secretary of the Interior - Act on Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women Crisis

Letter

Dear Attorney General Garland and Secretary Haaland:

I write to demand that immediate actions are taken regarding the Missing and Murdered
Indigenous Women (MMIW) crisis in light of the most recent GAO report issued on October 28,
2021. The GAO-22-104045 report shows that your departments, as well as the Biden
Administration as a whole, have not promptly and sufficiently executed recent statutory
requirements to address this crisis and meet the urgent needs of Tribes.

The recent GAO report found the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of the Interior
(DOI) have failed to abide by the laws set forth in the "Not Invisible Act of 2019" and
"Savanna's Act." As of June 2021, DOJ had not conducted the outreach required by "Savanna's
Act" in order to enter information regarding missing persons into the National Missing and
Unidentified Persons System (NamUS). The deadline for this outreach to occur was April 8,
2021. Additionally, under the "Not Invisible Act," the Secretary of the Interior alongside the
Attorney General was tasked with appointing members to a Joint Commission on Reducing
Violence Against Indians by February 7, 2021. According to GAO, as of October 15, 2021, no
members were appointed, and a draft plan to accomplish this requirement did not include the
milestones for all interim steps.

The failure to implement these crucial laws is simply unacceptable. I urge both the DOJ and DOI
to enact the provisions included in the "Savanna's Act" and "Not Invisible Act" that will help
Indian Country and uphold the law and the promises of this administration.

I look forward to your swift response and action plan to have these bills fully implemented.
Sincerely,

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