15 — He’s addressing the epidemic of missing and murdered Native Americans.

20 Reasons to Re-Elect President Trump

America is facing a major crisis today of missing and murdered Native Americans, especially women and girls.

On some reservations women and girls are killed at a rate ten times the national average.

Thousands of others are abducted by sex trafficking rings.

According to Attorney General William Barr:

“American Indian and Alaska Native people suffer from unacceptable and disproportionately high levels of violence. Native American women face particularly high rates of violence, with at least half suffering sexual or intimate-partner violence in their lifetime.”

According to a report in HuffPost:

Lots of these disappearances and murders stem from domestic violence, sexual assault and sex trafficking. 84% of Native women experience violence in their lifetime, and in some tribal communities, Native women are murdered at 10 times the national average.

Why the higher rate of violence in these communities? Here’s one reason, given by U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), as reported in HuffPost:

Murkowski could only speculate on why so many indigenous women are going missing or being murdered. She said she was at an Anchorage rally a couple of years ago called The Barefoot Mile, which was a walk around the city to support victims of human trafficking. She learned there that one of the “brutal realities” is that Native women command more money from traffickers.

“Native women, because of their looks, can be viewed as more exotic, more Asian, and apparently there is a higher market for women that are of Asian descent,” said the senator.

In response to this crisis, President Trump has taken three major actions:

1. He launched “Operation Lady Justice”.
   Also known as the “Presidential Task Force on Missing and Murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives”, this Executive Order provides the power and resources of the federal government, including “the FBI’s most advanced response capabilities”, to support tribal governments in dealing with the crisis.
2. He enacted the “Not Invisible Act”.
   This law brings together tribal leaders, law enforcement, federal agencies and survivors to form an advisory committee that issues recommendations to the U.S. Department of Justice.
3. He enacted “Savanna’s Law”.
   This law streamlines collaboration, communication and data-sharing between federal, state, local and tribal governments. The goal is to better track, solve and prevent crimes against Native Americans.

Here’s a statement from the president of the Navajo Nation, Jonathan Nez:

“On the Navajo Nation, disastrous outcomes occur from failed communications across multiple jurisdictions when coordinating efforts to address reports of missing or murdered indigenous persons.”

“We certainly thank the members of the House and Senate and President Trump for supporting these new laws that will help many tribes and families in Indian Country.”

Here are several other actions President Trump has taken to support Native Americans:

• He allocated $8 billion in the CARES Act specifically for COVID assistance to Native American communities.
• He launched the Presidential Task Force on Protecting Native American Children, to improve healthcare services for children in the Indian Health Service.
• He enacted a law that provides compensation to the Spokane Tribe of Indians for the loss of their lands. (They had been seeking compensation since the 1940s.)
• He’s preserved Native American heritage by reauthorizing funding for Native American language programs. (The funding had not been renewed since 2012.)
• He got Finland to return Native American artifacts that had been excavated by Europeans in 1891. (They were being held in the National Museum of Finland. The tribes had been trying to get them back since 1950.)
• He created the “Joint Opioid Reduction Task Force” to combat the drug epidemic in Native American communities.
• He granted federal recognition to the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians. (They had been seeking recognition since the 1800s.)

Here’s a statement from Tribal Council Chairman Gerald Gray:

“This has been a long journey for our people and I am proud that it is finally over. We have worked tirelessly in this fight and the United States has finally reaffirmed our existence.”

• Full List
• Previous: 14 — He’s protecting the right of Americans to keep and bear arms.
• Next: 16 — He’s promoting gay rights at home and abroad.

Article references (22):

• NBC News (2)
• HuffPost (3)
• The Hill (3)
• U.S. Department of Justice (2)
• U.S. Department of the Interior
• U.S. Indian Health Service
• The White House (6)
• Navajo-Hopi Observer (2)
• The Colorado Independent
• Wikipedia