Justice Department creates regional outreach program for missing or murdered indigenous persons

After years of warnings about the growing number of missing or murdered Indigenous people, and a traveling federal commission investigating the issue, the Justice Department this week announced the creation of the Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) Regional Outreach Program.

The new program will see 10 attorneys and coordinators housed in five regions across the U.S. to assist prevention and response efforts related to missing or murdered Indigenous people. In this capacity, they will assist U.S. Attorneys’ offices in investigation of unresolved cases and related crimes, promoting communication and improving coordination/collaboration between Tribal, federal, local and state law enforcement and non-governmental partners on MMIP issues.

“This new program mobilizes the Justice Department’s resources to combat the crisis of Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons, which has shattered the lives of victims, their families, and entire Tribal communities,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said. “The Justice Department will continue to accelerate our efforts, in partnership with Tribes, to keep their communities safe and pursue justice for American Indian and Alaska Native families.”

As part of its work, the program will also complement efforts by the Justice Department’s National Native American Outreach Services Liaison to help Indigenous people navigate the federal criminal justice system.

“The Executive Office for United States Attorneys and the United States Attorney community are committed to preventing and responding to cases of missing or murdered Indigenous people. To that end, we will work together with all relevant federal, Tribal, state, and local law enforcement partners to locate missing persons and solve crimes where they have occurred,” EOUSA Director Monty Wilkinson said. “This new program will allow the Department to build upon the work done by individual United States Attorneys’ offices and ensure continued support to those offices by coordinating outreach regionally on MMIP matters.”

A breakdown of the five regions includes the Northwest, Southwest, Great Plains, Great Lakes and Southeast. Specifically, the new MMIP personnel will be housed at U.S. Attorneys’ offices in Alaska, Arizona, Washington, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota and Michigan.