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Among Native American communities, people go missing and experience violence at disproportionately high rates. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo) - the first Native cabinet secretary - has been working to implement the Not Invisible Act, which she helped pass as a Congresswoman in 2019. A commission traveled round the country hearing testimony from survivors, advocates, law enforcement and tribal leaders. It released a list of recommendations last November, and now the Departments of Justice and Interior have responded.
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Native people are at disproportionate risk of experiencing violence, being murdered or going missing. In 2020, Congress passed a law called the Not Invisible Act to try to stop this. It was written by Deb Haaland, then a representative and now the first Indigenous secretary of the Interior Department. She promised the government would listen to Native people. A federal commission is now listening to families searching for lost loved ones.
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Last year, President Joe Biden proclaimed May 5th as Missing or Murdered Indigenous Person’s Awareness Day as a way to bring attention to the ongoing crisis and help families find their lost loved ones. Recent hearings by a federal commission have begun around the country, with one scheduled for New Mexico in June.