Whereas, according to a 2016 study commissioned by the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) National Institute of Justice (NIJ), more than 4 in 5 (84.3 percent) American Indian and Alaska Native women experienced violence in their lifetime, with 56.1 percent being a result of sexual violence and 55 percent being from intimate partner violence;

Whereas, according to 2017 data, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found homicide was the sixth-leading cause of death for American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls under 44 years of age, with murder rates more than 10 times the national average;

Whereas approximately 1,500 American Indian and Alaska Native missing persons have been entered into the National Crime Information Center index throughout the United States, and approximately 2,700 cases of murder and nonnegligent homicide offenses have been reported to the Federal Government’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program;

Whereas, according to a 2020 joint study completed by the State of Hawai’i and the Hawai’i State Commission on the Status of Women, 64 percent of human trafficking victims in Hawai’i identified as at least part Native Hawaiian;

Whereas the current local, State, and Federal funding available in Indian country is inadequate to address the basic, emergency, and long-term service needs of victims and negatively impacts Tribal governments’ ability to distribute lifesaving resources;

Whereas, in 2019, Operation Lady Justice was launched through Executive Order 13898 which established the Task Force on Missing and Murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives aimed at mitigating the missing and murdered Indigenous women (MMIW) crisis by improving the investigatory and prosecutorial capabilities of Federal justice agencies and generating new guidelines for data sharing and law enforcement responses;

Whereas, in 2020, Savanna’s Act (Public Law 116–165) and the Not Invisible Act (Public Law 116–166) were signed into law, which initiated a joint commission between the Department of the Interior (DOI) and DOJ to combat violent crime within Tribal communities and develop new law enforcement protocols when investigating MMIW;

Whereas, in 2021, DOI created a Missing and Murdered Unit within its Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Office of Justice Services to expand cross-departmental and interagency collaboration for the purposes of investigating cases of missing and murdered Indigenous people at the request of Tribal leadership;

Whereas, in 2022, DOI fulfilled a provision in the Not Invisible Act requiring the establishment of the Not Invisible Act Commission by filling membership with law enforcement, Tribal leaders, Federal partners, service providers, family members of MMIW, and survivors and held their first meeting;

Whereas, in 2023, the Not Invisible Act Commission submitted recommendations to the DOJ, DOI, and Congress to address the epidemic of missing persons and the murder and trafficking of American Indian and Alaska Native peoples;

Whereas, in response to the commission’s recommendations, DOJ highlighted the MMIW regional outreach program to aid the U.S. Attorney’s Offices to update Savanna’s Act guidelines to provide further training and technical assistance to State agencies and provide uniformity in guidelines across jurisdictions;

Whereas, despite progress that has been made, in 2024, 5,614 Indigenous Women and Girls were reported missing. Of these 5,614 reports, 4,179 victims were under the age of 18. At the end of 2024, there were 628 active missing person records;

Whereas, research data shows that national averages hide the extremely high rates of murder against Indigenous women and girls present in some counties comprised primarily of tribal land; and

Whereas, in previous years, May 5 has been designated as the day of remembrance for Missing and Murdered Native Women and Girls in honor of the birth date of Hanna Harris, a member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, who was murdered after being reported missing by her family in Lame Deer, Montana: Now, therefore, be it