Haaland a Proven Voice for Justice on MMIP 

Albuquerque, N.M. – On Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples (MMIP) Awareness Day, Deb Haaland, reaffirmed her commitment to ending the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people, and highlighted her record of standing alongside Native communities. 

Across New Mexico and Indian Country, many families are still searching for answers for the generations of victims and cases that have been left unsolved. The MMIP crisis has been a top issue for Haaland, even before she was elected to public office. 

“In Indian Country, we all know or know of someone who has gone missing. The trauma this crisis leaves in our communities impacts families for generations. The work I have done to address the MMIP crisis and protect human trafficking survivors, chips away at a crisis with consistent effort from multiple groups: Tribal leaders, state leaders, law enforcement, advocates, and families,” said Haaland. “As governor, I will continue to fight to get families the justice they deserve, demand accountability, and make sure no one is left behind.”

Haaland has been a tireless advocate for MMIP and human trafficking survivors. Some of the work she has done includes:

  • Before entering Congress, Deb Haaland attended U.S. Senate hearings on the Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind case, a 22-year old pregnant member of the Spirit Lake Tribe who was tragically murdered in August 2017. Those hearings led to the introduction of Savanna’s Act, which Haaland co-introduced and helped pass.
  • Held the first hearing in the U.S. House of Representatives on MMIP ever, as a member of the House Natural Resources Committee.
  • Introduced and passed the Not Invisible Act, which created a comprehensive federal program to address the crisis of murdered and missing indigenous women. As Secretary of Interior, Haaland worked to implement this legislation.
  • Introduced the SURVIVE Act to ensure survivors of domestic violence on Tribal lands have the same resources as survivors in other areas.
  • Added amendments to the Violence Against Women’s Act (VAWA) that expanded Tribal jurisdiction over violence committed by non-Tribal members on Tribal Lands, provided victim advocate services to urban Indians in state courts, and promoted criminal data sharing between public safety departments in and out of Indian Country. Then voted and sponsored legislation to reauthorize VAWA, and fought Republican efforts to block this crucial legislation.
  • Introduced the Protecting Domestic Violence and Stalking Victims Act, to keep firearms away from stalkers and domestic abusers.
  • Co-sponsored a measure to recognize National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month.
  • Called for more funding for the National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative.
  • Coordinated with the White House on the Executive Order directing the Departments of Justice, the Interior, and Health and Human Services to work with Tribal Nations and partners to build safe and healthy Tribal communities and to support comprehensive law enforcement, prevention, intervention and support services.
  • Created a Missing & Murdered Unit to help address the crisis of murdered and missing indigenous women, which opened 17 regional offices across the country, created teams of FBI, DOJ prosecutors, and Tribal investigators to address cases, developed a cloud-based catalogues of MMIP and human trafficking cases.  
  • Worked with the Department of Justice to put forth a federal strategy to respond to this crisis.
  • Partnered with the U.S. Department of Justice, to administer effective criminal investigations in Indian Country. 
  • Empowered the Not Invisible Act Commission to recommend measures that would effectively chip away at the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people.
  • Worked with international counterparts from Canada and Mexico to prevent cross-border human trafficking, provide victim and survivor services, and address the disproportionate violence against Indigenous women and girls.
  • Met with Indigenous women on international travel, to uplift the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous women in other countries and as a United States diplomatic priority. 

Now, in Haaland’s run for governor, her Public Safety Plan works to build on the NM DOJ’s MMIP program to seek justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples, launch a task force to coordinate jurisdictions with state, Tribal, and federal authorities to streamline missing persons cases, provide stable funding for investigations and routine updates for the program’s work in cold cases through outreach to victims’ families, and increase community support and resources for victims’ families dealing with unsolved cases.