{"id":29527,"date":"2024-01-25T07:59:10","date_gmt":"2024-01-25T14:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/lawmakers-want-attorney-general-to-create-new-task-force-on-missing-and-murdered-indigenous-people\/"},"modified":"2024-01-25T14:59:10","modified_gmt":"2024-01-25T14:59:10","slug":"lawmakers-want-attorney-general-to-create-new-task-force-on-missing-and-murdered-indigenous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/lawmakers-want-attorney-general-to-create-new-task-force-on-missing-and-murdered-indigenous\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawmakers want attorney general to create new task force on missing and murdered Indigenous people"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Indigenous
Indigenous families with loved ones who have gone missing or been murdered protest outside Albuquerque City Hall on July 21, 2023. Bella Davis\/New Mexico In Depth<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Five New Mexico lawmakers want the state attorney general to establish a task force focused on missing and murdered Indigenous people.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve made the request via Senate Joint Memorial 2, which they introduced this week. The memorial puts on display the disagreement some lawmakers have with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham\u2019s quiet shuttering last year of a task force dedicated to finding solutions to what\u2019s been identified as a national crisis. Indigenous women in the state, according to the memorial, have the highest homicide rate among all ethnic groups.<\/p>\n

Because this year\u2019s 30-day session is reserved for putting together the state budget in addition to whatever priorities the governor pinpoints, the lawmakers were limited to proposing a memorial, which is not legally binding.<\/p>\n

Task force members decried the governor\u2019s disbanding of their group last year, telling New Mexico In Depth in October their work was just beginning. The decision \u201cleft questions unanswered,\u201d the memorial reads.<\/p>\n

The Indian Affairs Department, which housed the group, held the final meeting last May, just a few months after several members spoke out against Lujan Grisham\u2019s appointment of James Mountain to lead the agency.<\/p>\n

Mountain was indicted on charges of criminal sexual penetration, kidnapping and aggravated battery against a household member in 2008, although the case was later dismissed because the prosecution said it had insufficient evidence. He left the department a month ago, less than a year after his appointment, to become the governor\u2019s senior policy adviser for tribal affairs.<\/p>\n

Officials have maintained they stopped convening the task force because it had met its objectives and they say the Indian Affairs Department is picking up where it left off.<\/p>\n

But Sen. Shannon Pinto, D-Tohatchi, one of the memorial\u2019s sponsors, said she wants to ensure state agencies are held accountable in their response to the crisis.<\/p>\n

The new group would be charged with updating a state response plan delivered in 2022 and providing \u201congoing legislative recommendations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque, another sponsor, said she believes the defunct task force \u201cstill is very important and central to a lot of the movement that we have had over the last few years.\u201d<\/p>\n

In November, the governor created an advisory council that, according to a news release, will support the state\u2019s efforts in carrying forward the response plan. Lujan Grisham appointed Pojoaque Pueblo Gov. Jenelle Roybal and Picuris Gov. Craig Quanchello to lead the group. Additional members haven\u2019t been announced.<\/p>\n

Lopez, at a November meeting of the interim Indian Affairs Committee, said advisory councils \u201cget buried in state government.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAdvisory councils are good. They do have a role in which they advise the secretary,\u201d Lopez said in an interview Monday. \u201cBut it\u2019s not inclusive of community. And I\u2019m hoping that there will be a way for communication between the task force and the advisory council.\u201d<\/p>\n

The memorial instructs the attorney general to appoint no more than 40 members, including Indigenous survivors and affected families, tribal leaders, service providers and law enforcement. The attorney general would serve as chair, unless he designated someone else.<\/p>\n

Those membership guidelines are lifted from an executive order Lujan Grisham issued in 2021, which created the previous task force. Lopez said she hopes at least some of the past members would be included in the new group.<\/p>\n

Asked how she and her colleagues landed on the attorney general\u2019s office as the proposed new home for the task force, Pinto said other states have created similar groups overseen by their attorneys general. The move makes sense to her, Pinto said, in part because the attorney general works with many jurisdictions. A lack of coordination among jurisdictions is a common roadblock in getting justice for missing or murdered Indigenous people.<\/p>\n

The Senate Rules Committee will weigh in on the memorial first. It hasn\u2019t yet been scheduled.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published by New Mexico In Depth <\/a>and is republished here with permission.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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