S.D. bill would put more focus on missing Native Americans; federal pilot program to start in Oklahoma

"Nobody knows how many indigenous people go missing or are murdered every year. There's just not a lot of comprehensive data. But on long neglected reservations . . . tribal members are convinced the crisis is worsening everyday," Kirk Siegler reports for NPR. "Tribal governments are renewing pressure on federal and state authorities to devote more resources to the crisis, and there are signs that's starting to happen."

South Dakota state legislators overwhelmingly passed a bill last week that would create a full-time missing indigenous persons specialist in the state attorney general's office. "Of the 109 people currently listed as missing in South Dakota, 77 are believed to be indigenous," Siegler reports. "Last month alone, 19 native people went missing, according to state figures."

State Rep. Peri Pourier, the bill's sponsor and a Democrat who represents the Pine Ridge Reservation, told Siegler that missing people are often human-trafficking victims, and that cases are falling through the cracks as perpetrators take advantage of jurisdictional gaps. Native American women and children are especially vulnerable to human trafficking, but many don't feel comfortable filing a missing person report with law enforcement, she said. The law would build on a 2019 state law that required the state Division of Criminal Investigation to collect data on missing and murdered Native Americans.

Indigenous people, especially women, are at a higher risk of going missing or being murdered, but efforts to address the problem have been sparse until recently. In December, the Justice Department unveiled a pilot program that aims to help federal, state and tribal agencies better coordinate such investigations. After the program rolls out in Oklahoma, it will expand to Alaska, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana and Oregon.