IV
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. RES. 381
Expressing support for the designation of May 5, 2025, as the ‘‘National
Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls’’.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY5, 2025
Mr. N
EWHOUSE(for himself, Ms. LEGERFERNANDEZ, Mr. COLE, Mr.
H
UFFMAN, Mr. JOHNSONof South Dakota, Mr. CASE, Ms. SALAZAR, Mr.
S
TANTON, Mrs. BICE, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. SMITHof Nebraska, Ms. PIN-
GREE, Mr. POCAN, and Ms. SCHRIER) submitted the following resolution;
which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addi-
tion to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provi-
sions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
RESOLUTION
Expressing support for the designation of May 5, 2025,
as the ‘‘National Day of Awareness for Missing and
Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls’’.
Whereas, according to a 2016 study commissioned by the De-
partment 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 vio-
lence and 55 percent being from intimate partner vio-
lence;
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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 mur-
der rates more than 10 times the national average;
Whereas approximately 1,500 American Indian and Alaska
Native missing persons have been entered into the Na-
tional 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 Pro-
gram;
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 Ha-
waiian;
Whereas the current local, State, and Federal funding avail-
able in Indian country is inadequate to address the basic,
emergency, and long-term service needs of victims and
negatively impacts Tribal governments’ ability to dis-
tribute 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 improv-
ing the investigatory and prosecutorial capabilities of
Federal justice agencies and generating new guidelines
for data sharing and law enforcement responses;
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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 Invis-
ible Act requiring the establishment of the Not Invisible
Act Commission by filling membership with law enforce-
ment, 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 sub-
mitted recommendations to the DOJ, DOI, and Congress
to address the epidemic of missing persons and the mur-
der and trafficking of American Indian and Alaska Na-
tive 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 miss-
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ing. 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 pri-
marily 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
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 1
(1) expresses support for the designation of a 2
‘‘National Day of Awareness for Missing and Mur-3
dered Indigenous Women and Girls’’; 4
(2) calls on the people of the United States and 5
interested groups to— 6
(A) commemorate the lives of missing and 7
murdered Indigenous women and girls whose 8
cases are documented and undocumented in 9
public records and the media; and 10
(B) demonstrate solidarity with the fami-11
lies of victims in light of those tragedies; 12
(3) recommends that the Department of Jus-13
tice’s National Institute of Justice commission a new 14
study with focused data on missing and murdered 15
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Indigenous women and girls to ensure up-to-date 1
statistics are made public regarding the current 2
state of the missing and murdered Indigenous 3
women and girls crisis given 9 years have passed 4
since their 2016 study was published; and 5
(4) recognizes that, despite the positive efforts 6
made, there is more work to be done to address this 7
nationwide crisis. 8
Æ
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