FBI surge in Portland brings attention to unsolved violent crimes in Native American communities 

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The FBI is sending extra agents, analysts and other personnel to field offices in 10 states over the next six months to help investigate unsolved violent crimes in Indian Country, marking a continuation of efforts by the federal government to address high rates of violence affecting Native American communities.

The U.S. Justice Department announced Tuesday that the temporary duty assignments began immediately and will rotate every 90 days in field offices that include Albuquerque, Phoenix, Denver, Detroit, Minneapolis, Oklahoma City, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Portland, Oregon, and Jackson, Mississippi.

The FBI will be working with the Bureau of Indian Affairs Missing and Murdered Unit, tribal authorities and federal prosecutors in each of the states.

“Crime rates in American Indian and Alaska Native communities are unacceptably high,” U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement. “By surging FBI resources and collaborating closely with U.S. attorneys and tribal law enforcement to prosecute cases, the Department of Justice will help deliver the accountability that these communities deserve.”

Work to bring more attention to the crisis has spanned decades. President Donald Trump was the first president to formally recognize the issue when he signed an executive order during his first term establishing a task force to tackle the high rate of killings and disappearances among Native Americans and Alaska Natives.

He also signed legislation in 2020 that directed the Justice and Interior departments to consult with tribes while developing national law enforcement guidelines and a separate measure that called for a federal commission to be established to find ways to improve how government responds to Indian Country cases.

President Joe Biden issued his own executive order on public safety in 2021, and then-Interior Secretary Deb Haaland launched efforts to implement the Not Invisible Act and the federal commission. Public meetings were held around the country as part of the effort, survivors and family members told heartbreaking stories and recommendations were crafted in 2023.

The Justice Department that year also established its Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons outreach program, dispatching more attorneys and coordinators to certain regions to help with unsolved cases.

In past years, the FBI's Operation Not Forgotten had deployed about 50 people for the temporary duty. This year, it's 60.

But without consistent resources and trained detectives investigating the crimes, advocates say many cases go unsolved. They called the FBI's latest surge an essential investment, saying it should be made permanent.

“This shouldn’t be just a one-time, six-month effort," said Abigail Echo-Hawk, director of the Seattle-based Urban Indian Health Institute. "We need this type of investment to continue and for Indian Country to get the resources that we so desperately need.”

Being able to investigate and hold people accountable can serve as a deterrent, Echo-Hawk said, adding that she's hopeful some families can find justice as a result of the effort.

It took about four months for the Biden administration to issue a response to the congressionally mandated recommendations submitted by the Not Invisible Commission, acknowledging at the time that more needed to be done across the federal government to resolve the crisis and support healing from the generational traumas. But it's unclear what has become of the recommendations now as a Justice Department webpage that included a link to the report no longer exists.

Echo-Hawk hopes Trump follows through with the promises made and the work he started during the first term to address the problem.

“The Not Invisible Act Commission recommendations need to be restored,” she said, “and we need to look at opportunities to actualize them.”

According to federal authorities, the FBI’s Indian Country program had 4,300 open investigations at the beginning of the fiscal year. That included more than 900 death investigations, 1,000 child abuse investigations, and more than 500 domestic violence and adult sexual abuse cases.

The operation in the past two years has supported more than 500 investigations, leading to the recovery of 10 children who were victims and the arrests of more than 50 suspects.