Jared Huffman urges DOJ address Missing or Murdered Indigenous People cases in California

California cases are 5th highest in the nation

September 13, 2023

On Wednesday, North Coast U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) penned a letter to the U.S. Attorney General asking for staff to address Missing and Murdered Indigenous People, or MMIP, cases in California.

This follows a regional outreach program announced in late June that allocated five MMIP assistant U.S. attorneys and five MMIP coordinators in U.S. offices who help in the investigation of unsolved MMIP cases.

The legislators argue in the letter that California was left behind.

“We are disappointed that California was excluded from the list of states to receive dedicated MMIP personnel, particularly given that California has the largest population of Native Americans of any state in the nation and the fifth largest caseload of MMIP,” the letter reads, which was also authored by U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Los Angeles).

The Department of Justice’s MMIP coordinators were assigned to Alaska, Arizona, Eastern Washington, Minnesota, New Mexico, Northern Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, and Western Michigan, according to a DOJ news release.

The letter notes other ways they say California is left behind in resources for investigating cold cases, including a federal law the writers say ceded criminal jurisdiction over tribal lands from the federal government in six states, including California.

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By:  SAGE ALEXANDER
Source: Eureka Times Standard