{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://stanton.house.gov/2021/12/stanton-s-mmiw-discussion-with-tribal-leaders-sparks-deeper-desire-for-federal-action", "Stanton\u2019s MMIW Discussion with Tribal Leaders  Sparks Deeper Desire for Federal Action", "2021-12-23", "2021", "2021-12", "Democrat", "House", "AZ", "Greg Stanton", "S001211", "stanton.house.gov", "stanton", "https://stanton.house.gov/press-releases", "scraper", "Urgent action at the federal level is necessary if our country is serious about solving the missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls crisis, Tribal leaders and advocates said at a film screening and panel hosted by Rep. Greg Stanton last weekend.\n\n\u201cThe truth is the epidemic of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls is one of the most under-reported, under-discussed, and under-funded tragedies in America today,\u201d Stanton said at the Heard Museum before the screening of the film \u2018Somebody\u2019s Daughter,\u2019 which shines a light on the crisis in Montana. \u201cThat means all of us have work to do to raise the profile of this cause\u2014and to deliver justice for so many families across the country.\u201d\n\nPanelists in a post-screening discussion included the \u2018Somebody\u2019s Daughter\u2019 filmmaker Rain, Lt. Gov. Monica Antone of the Gila River Indian Community, Navajo Nation Council Delegate Amber Kanazbah Crotty, victim rights specialist Valaura Imus-Nahsonhoya, and Director of Arizona State University\u2019s Research on Violence against American Indians Lab Dr. Kate Fox.\n\nCrotty, who chairs the Council\u2019s Sexual Assault Prevention subcommittee and had testified before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee Hearing on the MMIW crisis in 2018, doesn\u2019t believe federal action up to this point has made a difference, and sharply criticized federal law enforcement\u2019s response.\n\n\u201cNavajo Nation, Indian Country does not have enough [FBI] agents,\u201d she said. \u201cNavajo Nation, Indian Country does not have the jurisdiction or the resources that they need. And in 2018, when they felt that the missing Indigenous women did not matter, that's how they felt and continue to feel about us. Because nothing has changed in the last three years. Nothing has changed.\u201d\n\nImus-Nahsonhoya, who organizes search parties for missing Indigenous persons, described the inadequate and uncoordinated federal law enforcement response to cases she\u2019s worked on. \u201cIt\u2019s been very challenging working with law enforcement,\u201d she said. \u201cThe excuses that I see\u2014and I call these excuses, jurisdictional excuses. We\u2019re tribal land. We\u2019re federal land. I understand, and I get it. We have Tribal police BIA police, we have FBI, but they\u2019re shoving this to each other.\u201d\n\nCrotty added: \u201cIt\u2019s beyond awareness. We need action. We need our federal partners, our state partners, our tribal partners, to do everything in their power.\u201d\n\nBefore the screening, Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez also called for action. \u201cFar too many Navajo people continue to endure the heartache and frustration of a missing loved one and this film helps to bring awareness on a broader level,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have to continue to work together to bring our missing loved ones home.\u201d\n\nStanton has sharply criticized inadequacies in federal law enforcement\u2019s response to missing and murdered Indigenous persons cases, pressing FBI Director Christopher Wray on the issue in June, and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in October.\n\nArizona has the third-highest number of missing and murdered indigenous women in the country. The Justice Department has reported that Native American Women face murder rates more than 10 times higher than the national average and that four out of five Native women are affected by violence in their lifetimes.\n\nFull video of the panel is available HERE.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:37:48Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://stanton.house.gov/2021/12/stanton-s-mmiw-discussion-with-tribal-leaders-sparks-deeper-desire-for-federal-action"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4132987707853317, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}