为了提供更多的资源来调查数千起未解决的失踪和谋杀印第安人的案件，内政部长黛比·哈兰德成立了一个新的印第安事务局。
土著社区多年来一直在努力提高人们的认识，以解决日益严重的失踪和被谋杀的土著人接受美国广播公司新闻采访的活动人士说，尤其是女性。
根据城市印第安人健康研究所，在10到24岁的美国印第安人和阿拉斯加土著妇女中，杀人是第三大死因。司法部还发现，土著妇女是全国平均水平10倍以上的谋杀受害者。但是，如果没有非部落联邦、州和地方机构的援助，这些案件将得不到足够的资金和调查。
哈兰德在一份声明中说:“新的MMU单位将提供资源和领导，优先处理这些案件，协调资源，让人们负责，保证我们社区的安全，并为家庭提供封闭。”声明发布在内政部的网站上周四。
随着危机的持续以及死亡和失踪人数的上升，全国各地的土著妇女生活在对暴力的恐惧中。活动人士表示，他们正在寻找系统性的解决方案，以结束社区中的损失和死亡循环。
“我们看到了表象的样子。印度城市健康研究所主任阿比盖尔·埃克-霍克(Abigail Echo-Hawk)对美国广播公司(ABC News)表示:“你有一位土著妇女担任内政部长，她有权力和能力解决印度一些最紧迫的危机。”“然而，我们必须认识到这只是一个开始……当他们失踪时，寻找他们是不够的，当他们被谋杀时，调查罪行也是不够的。我们必须站在预防的角度。”
丹佛邮报通过盖蒂图像，文件
米凯拉·铁壳在他们的嘴上涂上红色的手，以示对失踪和谋杀的声援
美国国家犯罪信息中心记录了大约1500名美国印第安人和阿拉斯加土著失踪人员，约2700起杀人案件已报告给联邦政府的统一犯罪报告计划。
然而，活动人士表示，执法机构在维护这些案件的完整、准确数据记录方面做得很差。
UIHI的一项研究报告称，许多执法系统不包括美洲印第安人、美洲土著人或阿拉斯加土著人的种族类别，或者他们对土著人的分类不准确。这些机构所拥有的数据通常也是这些社区无法获得的，他们可能没有经济能力去寻找这些信息。
活动人士说，如果没有适当的记录来追究领导层的责任，土著社区就没有能力为自己辩护，执法部门也无法解决一个它不知道存在的问题。
“执法部门通过不收集种族和民族信息，有效地掩盖了我们社区的不均衡影响，”回声鹰说。“因此，很多年来，当我们的部落领导去找他们，争取资源并强调这个问题时，他们会说，‘但是你的数据呢?’但是我们知道数据不存在，因为他们没有收集。这是有目的的擦除。"
Echo-Hawk还说，由于施暴者很少被抓住，土著社区仍然是犯罪的脆弱目标。
美国印第安人事务协会的项目主任科琳Medicine对此表示赞同。她说，她认为丢失的数据是问题的一大部分，并影响到治愈这个社区所需的帮助。
“我们的人失踪了三次以上。第一次是身体上的。他们被偷，被绑架，被带走，被谋杀。那么它们在数据中是缺失的。第三次是——他们不在家和家人在一起，他们不在自己的社区里，”Medicine说。“这就是为什么我们必须成为自己的拥护者。”
Echo-Hawk说，她和其他像Medicine这样的积极分子将密切关注政府，以确保新部门取得承诺的进展。
“我厌倦了看到我们的人民生活在对他们的母亲、姐妹和祖母的恐惧中，”回声鹰说。“这些是我们作为土著妇女每天生活在一起的东西”
chip somodeilla/Getty Images，FILE
2019年9月27日，众议员黛比·哈兰德在国会大厦参加新闻发布会。
哈兰，新墨西哥州的一名国会女议员和美国第一位土著内阁秘书，在她的确认听证会上把这个问题作为优先事项。
失踪和谋杀股将建立在2019年专门处理这些案件的工作队的工作基础上，该工作队被称为女性司法行动。MMU将与部落调查员、印第安事务局和联邦调查局合作。这个新单位还将支持在印度全国范围内汇集执法资源，并帮助发现证人证词、物证和嫌疑人方面的新信息。
“无论是失踪的家庭成员还是谋杀调查，这些努力都将是动手的，”哈兰德说。“我们完全致力于协助部落社区进行这些调查，MMU将利用一切可用资源，成为防止这些案件成为悬案调查的力量倍增器。”
As Deb Haaland creates unit to investigate missing and murdered Native Americans, a look at why it's necessary
In an effort to provide more resources to investigate thousands of unsolved cases of missing and murdered Native Americans, a new Bureau of Indian Affairs unit has been launched by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.
Indigenous communities have struggled for years to raise awareness to address the growing crisis ofmissing and murdered Native people, specifically women, activists who spoke with ABC News said.
According to the Urban Indian Health Institute, homicide is the third-leading cause of death among American Indian and Alaska Native women aged 10 to 24. The Justice Department also found that Native women are victims of murder over 10 times the national average. But without assistance from non-tribal federal, state and local agencies, these cases have gone underfunded and uninvestigated.
"The new MMU unit will provide the resources and leadership to prioritize these cases and coordinate resources to hold people accountable, keep our communities safe, and provide closure for families," Haaland said in astatement posted to the Department of Interior's websiteThursday.
As the crisis drags on and the numbers of the dead and disappeared rise, Indigenous women across the country live in fear of violence. Activists say they are looking for systemic solutions to end the cycle of loss and death in the communities.
"We see what representation looks like. You have an indigenous woman leading as secretary of the interior with the authority and the ability to address some of the most pressing crises in Indian country," Abigail Echo-Hawk, director of the Urban Indian Health Institute, told ABC News. "However we have to recognize this as just the start … It's not enough to search for them when they go missing or investigate the crimes when they're murdered. We have to be at the point of prevention."
Roughly 1,500 American Indian and Alaska Native missing persons have been recorded across the U.S. by the National Crime Information Center, and about 2,700 cases of homicide have been reported to the Federal Government's Uniform Crime Reporting Program.
However, activists say law enforcement agencies do a poor job at maintaining complete, accurate records of the data on these cases.
A study by the UIHI reports that many law enforcement systems don't include a racial category for American Indian, Native American, or Alaska Native, or that they categorize Native peoples inaccurately. The data that agencies do have is also often inaccessible to these communities who may not be able to financially afford to seek out this information.
Without proper records to hold leadership accountable, Indigenous communities won't have the ability to advocate for themselves and law enforcement can't combat a problem it doesn't know exists, activists say.
"Law enforcement was effectively hiding the disproportional impact in our communities by the non-collection of race and ethnicity," Echo-Hawk said. "As a result of that, for many years, when our tribal leadership would go to them and push for resources and highlight this issue, they'd say, 'but where's your data?' But we know the data isn't there because they're not collecting it. This is purposeful erasure."
Echo-Hawk also said that since perpetrators of violence rarely get caught, the Native community remains a vulnerable target for crimes.
Colleen Medicine, program director at the Association on American Indian Affairs, agrees. She said she believes the missing data is a large part of the issue and is affecting the help needed to heal this community.
"Our people go missing three times over. The first time is physically. They're physically stolen, abducted, taken, murdered. Then they're missing in the data. The third time is -- they're not home with their families, they're not home in their communities," Medicine said. "That's why we have to be our own advocates."
Echo-Hawk says she and other activists like Medicine will be watching the administration closely to ensure the new unit makes the progress it promises.
"I'm tired of seeing our people live in fear for their mothers, for their sisters, for their grandmothers," Echo-Hawk said. "These are the things that we live with as indigenous women live with every day"
Haaland,a New Mexico congresswoman and the U.S.'s first Indigenous cabinet secretary, made this issue a priority of hers during her confirmation hearings.
The Missing & Murdered Unit will build upon the work of a 2019 task force dedicated to these cases, called Operation lady Justice. The MMU will work with Tribal investigators, as well as the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the FBI. This new unit will also support marshal law enforcement resources throughout Indian country and help uncover new information in witness testimony, material evidence and suspects.
"Whether it's a missing family member or a homicide investigation, these efforts will be all hands-on deck," Haaland said. "We are fully committed to assisting Tribal communities with these investigations, and the MMU will leverage every resource available to be a force-multiplier in preventing these cases from becoming cold case investigations."
