Native girls are lacking or murdered at appallingly excessive charges. Deb Haaland is taking motion

The new unit expands the establishment of a federal task force on the matter in 2019, which is urgent. “The US Department of Justice found Native American women to face homicide rates more than ten times the national average,” said the Coalition to Combat Violence Against Native Women, citing data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention becomes the third leading cause of death between the ages of 10 and 24 and the fifth leading cause of death in Native American and Alaska-born women between 25 and 34 years of age. “

In 2018, a multi-part Associated Press investigation found that while Native American women make up 0.3% of the population, they account for 0.7% of open missing person cases. In Montana, Native Americans make up 7% of the population – and 25% of reported missing persons.

Local women live with this fear every day, as this example shows:

x

When a woman’s car broke down, she decided to leave. But first she left that note in her car. This is the terrible reality that tribal peoples in America face as they are missing and killed at disproportionately high rates. She is safe and her father found the note. #MMIW #MMIP pic.twitter.com/ZqNyrtsT21

– Nora Mabie (@NoraMabie) April 1, 2021

The new missing and murdered unit will “Allow the department to expand its collaboration with other agencies such as: B. to improve the National System for Missing and Unidentified Persons (NamUs) of the DOJ and to develop strategic partnerships with other stakeholders such as the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Units (BAUs), the FBI Forensic Laboratory, the US Marshals Missing Child Unit (MCU) and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), ”read the Home Office statement announcing the establishment.

“Whether it’s a missing family member or a homicide investigation, these efforts will all be hands-on,” Haaland said in the statement. “We are determined to assist tribal communities in this investigation, and the MMU will use every available resource to act as a force multiplier to prevent these cases from becoming cold tests.”

Under Deb Haaland’s leadership, those promises just have added weight.