OPA

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs (AS-IA) Tara Katuk Sweeney recently announced that the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) schools operating on the Navajo Nation will open for students via distance learning for the first nine weeks of the 2020-21 school year. The BIE operates 32 schools within the Navajo Nation and has worked closely with tribal leaders to find the best way to implement the Return To Learn! plan. Under the plan, BIE schools have the flexibility to implement how it works for their specific needs and community conditions.

"Our number one priority is the academic instruction of our students, but we must do that in a manner that also protects their health and safety," said Assistant Secretary Sweeney. "We created the Return to Learn plan to give BIE schools the flexibility to consider the specific health and safety conditions in their communities. In-person instruction is always the preferred method of instructional delivery, however, when on-the-ground pandemic conditions dictate moving cautiously, we work with our schools and tribal leadership to provide the resources to support those needs.”

“We thank Assistant Secretary Sweeney and BIE Director Tony Dearman for discussing these issues with us on a regular basis and for their support for online learning to begin the school year,” said Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez. “The Navajo Nation Board of Education approved a resolution supporting online learning for the entire first semester and we are open to discussing this option with our federal partners as we move forward. Our COVID-19 cases on the Navajo Nation have been on a consistent decline, but there remains substantial risk to all of our citizens due to high numbers in regions and cities near the Navajo Nation. Our number one priority continues to be the health and well-being of our Navajo people, especially our students, teachers, and school administrators.”

Indian Affairs and the Navajo Nation have been engaged in a series of discussions on how best to open schools on the Navajo reservation. The BIE is helping with the transition by providing computer hardware, including over 10,000 laptops, 1,000 iPads, software, and over 6,000 mobile hotspots to students and teachers. BIE has also launched a pilot program to put Wi-Fi hotspots on buses for 25 of the longest bus routes across the school system.

For more information on the Return to Learn! plan, visit https://returntolearn.bie.edu/return-to-learn-plan.

The AS-IA advises the Secretary of the Interior on Indian Affairs policy issues, communicates policy to and oversees the programs of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the BIE, provides leadership in consultations with tribes and serves as the DOI official for intra- and inter-departmental coordination on Indian matters.

The BIE implements federal Indian education programs and funds 183 elementary schools, secondary schools and dormitories (of which over two-thirds are tribally operated) located on 64 reservations in 23 states serving an estimated 46,000 individual students. The BIE also operates two post-secondary schools and administers grants for 29 tribally controlled colleges and universities and two tribal technical colleges.

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Native View: Tribal communities aren't being forgotten by Trump

Originally Published By: Duluth News Tribune

By: Tara Katuk Sweeney, U.S. Interior Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs

I am very proud that the U.S. Department of the Interior is delivering for Indian Country on President Donald Trump’s promise to all Americans. He promised safe and healthy communities with educational and economic opportunities for the most forgotten Americans.

Indeed, in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the wider Great Lakes region, the Department of the Interior is answering the call to protect our waters for commercial and recreational fishermen and families. The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative is helping make fish safe to eat, provide safe drinking water, and control and guard against invasive species. In Fiscal Year 2019, the regional director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Midwest Region Branch of Wildlife & Parks supported more than $15 million in awards to 37 tribal entities.

In 2018, former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke met with the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin to discuss the opioid crisis, and we continue the fight today. When President Trump declared war on the opioid epidemic, Interior answered the call. We formed the DOI Opioid Reduction Task Force, headed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services. This task force has worked hand in hand with tribal leadership, like Oneida Nation Chairman Tehassi Hill, from the beginning. The results have been nothing short of dramatic: literal tons of illegal drugs seized — over $30 million worth off the streets of tribal communities — and more than 840 arrests. In fact, the number of drug cases opened across all of Indian Country law enforcement is more than 200% higher than in the last year of the previous administration.

Illegal drugs are just one of many challenges testing Native American communities. When told of the tragedy of missing and murdered Native Americans, President Trump issued an executive order to Attorney General William Barr and Interior Secretary David Bernhardt. Operation Lady Justice was developed to implement that order. As an initiative of Operation Lady Justice, the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Office of Justice Services is taking the lead in opening seven “cold cases” offices throughout the country to focus solely on cold cases involving Native Americans. The goal is bringing justice and closure to the families of victims who have gone missing.

Tribal communities also deserve quality educational opportunities for their children, opportunities that long have been out of reach. Under the leadership of President Trump, Interior has been hard at work improving educational opportunities for the nearly 46,000 Native American children who attend our Bureau of Indian Education schools. After years of failure, the BIE has finally developed a reliable assessment program aimed at accurately measuring each student’s progress and identifying areas of improvement. This is the foundation Indian schools need to provide American Indian children the tools to succeed.

Tribal communities urgently require schools that are truly centers of learning, not decrepit buildings unacceptable anywhere else in America. The Great American Outdoors Act, championed by President Trump, includes up to $465 million in guaranteed funding over the next five years to improve American Indian school infrastructure. Additionally, Interior has developed, with the help of forward-thinking tribal leaders, innovative financing opportunities with a simple purpose: allowing tribes to partner with Indian Affairs to build their own schools which help meet their specific tribal and educational needs.

Economic development on reservations starts with the people. As a result, the Department of the Interior supports tribal decision making on tribal lands. We also have delivered on the promise of tribal energy resource agreements, producing regulations that facilitate tribal decision-making, not hinder it. We are also building on the president’s promise to cut back on red tape. This is because Interior understands that the tribes themselves should decide the appropriate balance between development and environmental protections.

True leadership means looking behind empty promises and getting things done for all Americans.

President Trump said that his administration would deliver real progress for the forgotten Americans, and we are working with Indian Country to make that a reality.

Tara Katuk Sweeney is the U.S. assistant secretary for Indian Affairs, an Iñupiat member of the Native Village of Barrow in Alaska, and a member of the Iñupiat Community of the Arctic Slope. She serves on the Operation Lady Justice Task Force, which was established by presidential order in November 2019 to support and protect American Indian and Alaska Natives, particularly women and children. She wrote this exclusively for the News Tribune.

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WASHINGTON – The Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) announced in August that BIE-operated K-12 day-school operations across the United States will have a uniform start date of September 16 for the 2020-2021 school year. Bureau operated residential facilities, including Off Reservation Boarding Schools (ORBS) and dormitories will only provide day-school instruction. This will avoid students traveling outside the commuting area and these students enrolled will be provided distance learning opportunities for their continuity of education. The BIE implements federal Indian education programs for roughly 46,000 students at 183 schools across the U.S.

“The health and safety of our students and staff is our top priority. COVID-19 is challenging tribal governments, BIE-funded schools, and all Indian Country communities on a scale not experienced in decades,” said BIE Director Tony Dearman. “We are continuing our strong collaboration with tribes, states, local health officials and our federal partners for a safe school reopening, and our Return To Learn! plan provides the guidance needed for both in-classroom and online learning. In addition, the ORBS and dormitories will provide day-school instruction-only, with distance-learning options for students who are not able to attend in person. Our BIE team is fully committed to finding a path forward through these challenging times that provides the educational services our students need while providing support to students and their families as well as staff.”

The BIE’s School Reopening Task Force is now implementing its Return To Learn! plan. The Task Force is utilizing all feedback from tribal consultations, stakeholder survey responses, collaboration with tribes, states, and other federal agencies, to safely reopen based on local conditions. The Return To Learn! plan provides guidance on reopening criteria that follows current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations, provides flexibility for local conditions, and makes recommendations on distance learning platforms.

Schools may continue providing school lunches in the upcoming school year. They will also ensure proper employee safety, enforce food-handling and serving protocols to the maximum extent and highest health standards possible, and operate in accordance with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and CDC guidelines regarding COVID-19.

Visit the Indian Affairs COVID-19 page and the BIE COVID-19 page for more information.

The Bureau of Indian Education implements federal Indian education programs and funds 183 elementary schools, secondary schools and dormitories (of which more than two-thirds are tribally operated) located on 64 reservations in 23 states serving an estimated 46,000 individual students. The BIE also operates two post-secondary schools and administers grants for 29 tribally controlled colleges and universities and two tribal technical colleges.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Tara Katuk Sweeney was in Anchorage, Alaska, to open the sixth office to investigate cold cases involving missing and murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives. She was also joined by Commissioner Jean Hovland with the Administration for Native Americans and Bureau of Indian Affairs-Office of Justice Services Director Charles Addington. This is an initiative of Operation Lady Justice, the task force established to address missing and murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives. The first cold case office was opened on July 27, 2020, in Bloomington, MN.

Advisor to the President Ivanka Trump joined U.S. Secretary of the Interior David L. Bernhardt, Assistant Secretary Sweeney, and BIA-Office of Justice Services Director Charles Addington at the Bloomington, MN, event to highlight the Trump Administration’s commitment to forgotten men, women and children across our country.

“The opening of the Operation Lady Justice cold case office here in Anchorage brings us full circle to the beginning, when the Trump Administration traveled to Nome and Bethel last August,” said Assistant Secretary Sweeney. In 2019 Assistant Secretary Sweeney led a delegation of federal partners to Nome and Bethel to meet with tribal leaders and community advocates in a series of roundtables called Reclaiming Our Native Communities. The delegation of federal officials included White House Deputy Assistant to President Trump and Director for Intergovernmental Affairs Doug Hoelscher, Domestic Policy Council Deputy Director Jennie Lichter, Senior Policy Advisor to the Commissioner of the Administration for Native Americans Mirtha Beadle, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services Director Charles Addington. “Those events served as the foundation for the recommendations Indian Affairs made to the Trump Administration,” Sweeney continued. “The local voices guided our internal conversations, and as a result we’ve come a long way in a short time in addressing these issues through President Trump’s executive order 13898. This executive order established the Operation Lady Justice Task Force. While humbling, this is a meaningful first step in providing closure to the families of victims.”

“Under Operation Lady Justice, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of the Interior and the Department of Justice have increased our information sharing, are collaborating on decision-making, and have grown in the understanding of how our work contributes to making our communities a safer place for our relatives and future generations. We must move upstream to improve prevention, intervene for those in crisis, and support individuals, survivors, families, and communities in need of healing,” said Administration for Native Americans Commissioner Jeannie Hovland. “Tribal leaders, family members, community members, and all who have been advocating on behalf of our relatives who have gone missing or have been murdered, thank you for never giving up, for your persistence and perseverance. Your voices have been heard and we are here because of you and for you. As Native people, we have withstood much adversity, overcome many challenges, and have remained resilient. I believe that together, we can and will end the crisis of missing and murdered Native Americans!”

“The AVCP Region’s number one priority is public safety – this includes the issue of missing and murdered Alaska Natives and American Indians throughout the United States,” said Vivian Korthuis, Executive Vice President of the Association of Village Council Presidents in Bethel, Alaska. “The solution to addressing these issues has three components: utilizing our traditional values and practices for prevention, basic law enforcement in our Native villages to protect our communities, and collaboration between tribal, federal, and state agencies to solve cases and bring justice to families and communities. Opening this office in Anchorage is an excellent example of the kind of collaboration we need to address this issue in Alaska. We look forward to the good work to be done in partnership with the Anchorage office in making a difference for all our families impacted.”

“Kawerak, Inc., is very eager to see the opening of the Murdered and Missing Native American Cold Case Office in Alaska. For far too long, too many Alaska Natives, both male and female, have been murdered or have disappeared with no resolution for their families and communities, and no justice for the victims,” said Kawerak President Melanie Bahnke. “These are our brothers and sisters, our cousins, our aunties and uncles, our mothers, our daughters, and our fellow community members, they are not simply "case files." They deserve the full attention of the proper authorities. We appreciate the resources being dedicated in the pursuit of justice for our people. Igamsiqayugvikamsi to all who are involved in this effort, may your work be bolstered knowing that you have the support of Alaska Natives across the state, including in the Bering Straits Region.” Kawerak, Inc., is the non-profit arm of the Bering Straits Native Association, an organization of Alaska Native villages in the Bering Straits region.

“I am committed to the safety of every Alaskan. The opening of the American Indian and Alaska Native Cold Case Task Force Office in Anchorage is a critical step with additional resources, which I fully support,” said Governor Mike Dunleavy. “I want to thank Indian Affairs Assistant Secretary Sweeney for her hard work in making this a reality. My administration will work diligently with this team to get justice for the missing and murdered Indigenous people of Alaska.”

“Addressing the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people has been a priority of mine for years, so the announcement by the administration in July was long-awaited and welcomed news. This has been a cooperative effort at all levels—from legislation to appropriations to an Executive Order where we have come together to bring about a significant initiative,” said U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski. “The opening of the Operation Lady Justice Anchorage office is not only a sign that we have moved beyond awareness to action, but it is a real and tangible step toward turning the tide of this epidemic. I’m proud that this Cold Case Task Force office is possible because of the funding I worked to include in the 2020 omnibus appropriations bill. I applaud the administration for making this issue a priority and the many tribal advocates who urged action to make this a reality. I look forward to seeing the justice and healing this new initiative will bring to families across Alaska.”

“Alaska leads the nation in many statistics that we are not proud of, including shockingly high rates of violent crime—rates that are even higher among our Alaska Native peoples,” said U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan. “I appreciate the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Trump administration for focusing on this societal scourge by standing up the ‘Operation Lady Justice’ initiative, addressing the blight of missing and murdered Native Americans. We’ve been able to learn a great deal from the people most affected by this crisis thanks to engagements, like the ‘Reclaiming Our Native Communities’ roundtables hosted by Assistant Secretary Sweeney, in rural Alaska and throughout Indian Country. Alaskans welcome the presence of the BIA OJS Cold Case Office to offer closure to the families who have been hurting for too long, and to provide the justice that we all expect from our justice system.”

“Alaska Native communities are home to some of the most remote population centers in our state. Because of the difficulty in travel and communication, the scourge of missing and murdered Alaska Natives, particularly women and girls, has tragically impacted far too many families,” said U.S. Representative Don Young. “Today’s opening of the first Missing and Murdered Native Americans Cold Case office in Anchorage is important news for the victims and families who deserve nothing short of justice. I am grateful to the Trump Administration, Secretary Bernhardt, and Assistant Secretary Sweeney for their commitment to Alaska Natives and Indigenous people across our country. Our work must not stop. It is my great hope that we can turn the tide in the fight against crimes perpetrated in our Native communities, and it will continue to be one of my highest priorities to ensure that Alaska is a safe place for all.”

In addition to Bloomington, MN, cold case offices were opened in Rapid City, SD, on August 4; Billings, MT, on August 6; Albuquerque, NM, on August 11; and Phoenix, AZ, on August 13, 2020. Another office is planned for Nashville, TN, in the near future.

President Trump's Executive Order established the Operation Lady Justice Task Force, a multi-agency effort co-chaired by Secretary Bernhardt and U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr. Its purpose is to enhance the operation of the criminal justice system and address the staggering number of missing and murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives in tribal communities.

The cold case teams have been established in accordance with Executive Order 13898 which President Trump signed on November 26, 2019, to address this crisis. They will be staffed with law enforcement personnel and newly appointed special agents from the BIA-OJS.

A way for top federal officials to engage, coordinate and work with tribal governments on developing strategies to address the crisis, the Operation Lady Justice Task Force is working to collect and manage data across jurisdictions; establish protocols for new and unsolved cases; establish multi-jurisdictional cold case teams; improve the response to investigative challenges; and provide clarity on the roles, authorities and jurisdiction for those involved. It is also charged with providing a report to the President of its work and accomplishments in meeting the executive order’s mandate.

Since 2019, the Department of the Interior and the BIA have undertaken a number of efforts to address the crisis, conducting criminal investigations, stopping illicit drug activity and solving missing and murdered cases.

The BIA-OJS and its partners have opened 200 percent more drug cases across Indian Country than in the last year of the Obama Administration, and their tribal law enforcement officers have seized approximately 6,000 pounds of narcotics worth $30 million in the past two years. Preventing further violence against American Indians and Alaska Natives is largely predicated on ending illicit drug activities, alcohol abuse and sex trafficking.

The BIA-OJS's partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, known as NamUs, has led to the development and implementation of new tribal-affiliation data fields to assist law enforcement with capturing information to track missing persons in Indian Country. Since the addition of these new data fields last year and NamUs’ extensive outreach to states with large tribal populations with the result that they are inputting data directly into the system, there has been a 60 percent increase in Native-person entries in NamUs.

The Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs advises the Secretary of the Interior on Indian Affairs policy issues, communicates policy to and oversees the programs of the BIA and the BIE, provides leadership in consultations with tribes, and serves as the DOI official for intra- and inter-departmental coordination and liaison within the Executive Branch on Indian matters.

Established in 1974 through the Native American Programs Act (NAPA), the Administration for Native Americans (ANA) serves all Native Americans, including state and federally recognized tribes, American Indian and Alaska Native organizations, Native Hawaiian organizations and Native populations throughout the Pacific Basin (including American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands). ANA promotes self-sufficiency for Native Americans by providing discretionary grant funding for community based projects, and training and technical assistance to eligible tribes and native organizations.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Tara Katuk Sweeney announced today that the fifth of seven offices being established under the Operation Lady Justice Task Force to investigate cold cases involving missing and murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives will be located at the Gila River Indian Community Police Department in Sacaton, AZ. The Task Force’s first tribally housed cold case office opened August 13.

Advisor to the President Ivanka Trump joined Secretary of the Interior David L. Bernhardt for the launch of the first cold case office in Bloomington, MN, on July 27 highlighting President Trump’s commitment to forgotten men and women across our country and actions taken to end the violence against American Indians and Alaska Natives.

“I want to thank Governor Stephen Lewis for agreeing to house the Operation Lady Justice Task Force’s Phoenix cold case office at the Gila River Indian Community’s police department,” said Assistant Secretary Sweeney. “These cold case offices are a major development in addressing unsolved cases of missing and murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives that are heartbreaking for their families and communities.”

“The Gila River Indian Community is pleased to house the new Cold Case office for the Western Region. The entire Region will benefit from bringing together federal resources specifically designated to address this crisis of Missing and Murdered Native Americans,” said Gila River Indian Community Governor Stephen R. Lewis. “This is a positive first step in reinforcing the trust relationship between the federal government and tribal nations and addressing this longstanding issue in Indian Country. The Community looks forward to helping ensure the success of the Cold Case office within the Gila River Police Department.”

“The Hopi Tribe is thrilled to know the work of the recently established Operation Lady Justice Task Force will move forward with addressing the astounding number of cases of murdered and missing American Indians and Alaska Natives in Tribal communities,” said Hopi Tribal Chairman Timothy Nuvangyaoma. “We are looking forward to supporting our national law enforcement agencies with this much needed coordination and to continue advocating for those who have been silenced by the crimes against our native people.”

“The Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah is grateful that under Operation Lady Justice, MMIP Cold Case units are opening regionally and assisting Indian Country in identifying and finally finding closure for families that for years have not found justice or closure for their loved one,” said PITU Chairperson Tamra Borchardt-Slayton. “It has finally become a priority to finally address issues that are on-going with MMIP and the multitude of unresolved cases.”

“Native Americans, particularly women, suffer from disproportionately high levels of violence across the country—a crisis that is exacerbated by jurisdictional challenges and the lack of a unified national database to track indigenous missing persons cases,” said United States Senator Martha McSally. “In fact, Arizona has the third largest number of cases of missing and murdered indigenous women. This is unacceptable and our tribal communities deserve better. The establishment today of a Missing and Murdered Native Americans Cold Case Task Force office in Phoenix is a critical step toward delivering justice to our native populations.”

The Gila River Indian Community is located on the south side of the city of Phoenix in Pinal County, which is within the Phoenix metropolitan area. The cold case office will be co-located with the Gila River Indian Community Police Department and staffed by two agents from the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services (BIA-OJS).

“The Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Office of Justice Services works closely with its partners in tribal, state, local and federal law enforcement agencies to address violent crime in Indian Country communities,” said BIA Deputy Bureau Director for OJS Charles Addington. “I want to add my thanks to Governor Lewis and the Gila River Indian Community Police Department for their willingness to house the Operation Lady Justice Task Force’s Phoenix cold case office.”

In addition to Bloomington, cold case offices were opened in Rapid City, SD, on August 4; in Billings, MT, on August 6; and in Albuquerque, NM, on August 11, 2020. Future office openings are planned for Anchorage, AK, and Nashville, TN.

President Trump's Executive Order established the Operation Lady Justice Task Force, a multi-agency effort co-chaired by Secretary Bernhardt and U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr. Its purpose is to enhance the operation of the criminal justice system and address the staggering number of missing and murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives in tribal communities.

The cold case teams have been established in accordance with Executive Order 13898 which President Trump signed on November 26, 2019, to address this crisis. They will be staffed with law enforcement personnel and newly appointed special agents from the BIA-OJS.

A way for top federal officials to engage, coordinate and work with tribal governments on developing strategies to address the crisis, the Operation Lady Justice Task Force is working to collect and manage data across jurisdictions; establish protocols for new and unsolved cases; establish multi-jurisdictional cold case teams; improve the response to investigative challenges; and provide clarity on the roles, authorities and jurisdiction for those involved. It is also charged with providing a report to the President of its work and accomplishments in meeting the executive order’s mandate.

Since 2019, the Department of the Interior and the BIA have undertaken a number of efforts to address the crisis, conducting criminal investigations, stopping illicit drug activity and solving missing and murdered cases.

The BIA-OJS and its partners have opened 200 percent more drug cases across Indian Country than in the last year of the Obama Administration, and their tribal law enforcement officers have seized approximately 6,000 pounds of narcotics worth $30 million in the past two years. Preventing further violence against American Indians and Alaska Natives is largely predicated on ending illicit drug activities, alcohol abuse and sex trafficking.

The BIA-OJS's partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, known as NamUs, has led to the development and implementation of new tribal-affiliation data fields to assist law enforcement with capturing information to track missing persons in Indian Country. Since the addition of these new data fields last year and NamUs’ extensive outreach to states with large tribal populations with the result that they are inputting data directly into the system, there has been a 60 percent increase in Native-person entries in NamUs.

The Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs advises the Secretary of the Interior on Indian Affairs policy issues, communicates policy to and oversees the programs of the BIA and the BIE, provides leadership in consultations with tribes, and serves as the DOI official for intra- and inter-departmental coordination and liaison within the Executive Branch on Indian matters.

WASHINGTON – The Trump Administration announced today that the U.S. Department of Interior’s Indian Affairs Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED) has approved National Tribal Broadband Grant (NTBG) program grants to 23 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and two Navajo Nation communities to study the feasibility of developing or extending broadband services in their areas.

The NTBG grants will enable recipients to hire qualified consultants to research the potential deployment or expansion of high-speed internet transmitted, variously, through digital subscriber line (DSL), cable modem, fiber, wireless, satellite and broadband-over-power lines (BPL).

The purpose of the NTBG program is to spur economic development and commercial activity, create opportunities for self-employment, enhance educational resources and remote learning opportunities, and meet emergency and law enforcement needs by bringing broadband services to Native American communities that lack them.

"Broadband can dramatically improve the quality of life in American Indian and Alaska Native communities,” said Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Tara Katuk Sweeney. “Quick, convenient and reliable access to the internet is a modern necessity. Yet, tribes frequently find themselves on the wrong side of the digital divide. These grants are an important first step in bringing broadband to communities that sorely need them.”

The solicitation for the NTBG program was published in the Federal Register on February 10, 2020, and closed on June 15. Fifty-five proposals were submitted by tribal applicants totaling $2,658,638. Submissions were rated largely on the potential positive impacts broadband could bring to an applicant’s community.

Twenty-three of the NTBG grants involve studies of broadband projects located in Opportunity Zones. An Opportunity Zone is an economically distressed community where new investments, including investments in broadband systems, may be eligible for preferential tax treatment under certain conditions (26 U.S.C. §§ 1400Z-1 and 1400Z-2).

Feasibility studies funded by the grants will be conducted by professionally qualified third parties, including private consulting or engineering firms. They will assess the current broadband services, if any, that are available to each grantee’s community; engineering evaluations of new or expanded broadband services; estimates of the cost of building or expanding broadband networks; determination of the transmission medium(s) to be employed; identification of potential funding and/or financing for networks; and consideration of financial and practical risks associated with developing broadband systems.

The Fiscal Year 2020 grantees and funding amounts are:

• Blackfeet Tribe, Montana -- $46,000
• Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes, Alaska -- $50,000
• Cherokee Nation, Oklahoma -- $50,000
• Circle Native Community, Alaska -- $40,000
• Dilkon Chapter, Navajo Nation, Arizona -- $50,000
• Fort Belknap Indian Community, Montana -- $49,546
• Hoopa Valley Tribe, California -- $49,500
• Hualapai Indian Tribe, Arizona -- $50,000
• Kayenta Township, Navajo Nation, Arizona – $48,778
• Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation, Montana -- $50,000
• Metlakatla Indian Community of the Annette Island Reserve, Alaska -- $50,000
• Native Village of Barrow Iñupiat Traditional Government, Alaska -- $49,606
• Native Village of Unalakleet, Alaska -- $49,504
• Noorvik Native Community, Alaska -- $50,000
• Oglala Sioux Tribe, South Dakota -- $50,000
• Pueblo of Laguna, New Mexico -- $50,000
• Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, Wisconsin -- $33,500
• Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Mission Indians, California -- $48,500
• Seneca Nation of Indians, New York -- $50,000
• Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation, South Dakota -- $39,360
• Spirit Lake Tribe, North Dakota -- $50,000
• Susanville Indian Rancheria, California -- $47,016
• Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Colorado -- $49,840
• Wichita and Affiliated Tribes, Oklahoma -- $50,000
• Yurok Tribe, California -- $48,850

Visit the IEED website for information about other programs and services.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Tara Katuk Sweeney announced today the opening of the fourth of seven offices established under the Operation Lady Justice Task Force to investigate cold cases involving missing and murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives.

Advisor to the President Ivanka Trump joined Secretary of the Interior David L. Bernhardt for the launch of the first cold case office in Bloomington, MN, on July 27 highlighting President Trump’s commitment to forgotten men and women across our country and actions taken to end the violence against American Indians and Alaska Natives.

“Because President Donald Trump took action, we are addressing the missing and murdered American Indian and Alaska Native crisis impacting tribal communities across the nation,” said Assistant Secretary Sweeney. “We want to see victims and their families receive closure, and will direct our efforts towards that goal. The Albuquerque cold case office is joining those in Minnesota, South Dakota and Montana that are beginning the work of resolving their cold cases.”

“With today’s opening in Albuquerque, New Mexico, along with the cold case offices now established in Minnesota, South Dakota, and Montana, we are making progress with our plans for having seven such offices being operational by next month,” said Charles Addington, Deputy Bureau Director for the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Office of Justice Services (BIA-OJS). “They are evidence that we are taking seriously the concerns of tribal communities who want to know the circumstances of their people who have gone missing or fallen victim to murder.”

Future cold case office locations will open in Phoenix, AZ; Anchorage, AK; and Nashville, TN.

President Trump's Executive Order established the Operation Lady Justice Task Force, a multi-agency effort co-chaired by Secretary Bernhardt and U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr. Its purpose is to enhance the operation of the criminal justice system and address the staggering number of missing and murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives in tribal communities.

The cold case teams have been established in accordance with Executive Order 13898 which President Trump signed on November 26, 2019, to address this crisis. They will be staffed with law enforcement personnel and newly appointed special agents from the BIA-OJS.

A way for top federal officials to engage, coordinate and work with tribal governments on developing strategies to address the crisis, the Operation Lady Justice Task Force is working to collect and manage data across jurisdictions; establish protocols for new and unsolved cases; establish multi-jurisdictional cold case teams; improve the response to investigative challenges; and provide clarity on the roles, authorities and jurisdiction for those involved. It is also charged with providing a report to the President of its work and accomplishments in meeting the executive order’s mandate.

Since 2019, the Department of the Interior and the BIA have undertaken a number of efforts to address the crisis, conducting criminal investigations, stopping illicit drug activity and solving missing and murdered cases.

The BIA-OJS and its partners have opened 200 percent more drug cases across Indian Country than in the last year of the Obama Administration, and their tribal law enforcement officers have seized approximately 6,000 pounds of narcotics worth $30 million in the past two years. Preventing further violence against American Indians and Alaska Natives is largely predicated on ending illicit drug activities and sex trafficking.

The BIA-OJS's partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, known as NamUs, has led to the development and implementation of new tribal-affiliation data fields to assist law enforcement with capturing information to track missing and murdered persons in Indian Country. Since the addition of these new data fields last year, there has been a 60 percent increase in Native-person entries into the system.

The Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs advises the Secretary of the Interior on Indian Affairs policy issues, communicates policy to and oversees the programs of the BIA and the BIE, provides leadership in consultations with tribes, and serves as the DOI official for intra- and inter-departmental coordination and liaison within the Executive Branch on Indian matters.

Originally Published by: The Federalist

By: Tara Katuk Sweeney, U.S. Interior Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs

The prevalence of violence, drugs, and illicit activities disproportionately affects Indian Country and Alaska Native villages. Using the tools at his disposal, President Trump is working alongside American Indians and Alaska Natives to change that. Genuine strides are being made to make these communities safer, stronger, and more prosperous.

As the assistant secretary for Indian Affairs at the U.S. Department of the Interior and an Alaska Native, I am familiar with the issues affecting so many around our country. I also have the pleasure of serving on the Operation Lady Justice Task Force established by President Trump’s November 26, 2019, executive order, which renews federal efforts to support and protect Native American women and children.

In these capacities, I have come to appreciate and deeply respect our mission at Indian Affairs — particularly our law enforcement officers, who are on the front lines supporting the president’s efforts to prevent drugs from crossing our borders and into our Native communities.

The Office of Justice Services within the Bureau of Indian Affairs carries out this critical work through its law enforcement and tribal courts programs that interact daily with scores of tribal communities across America and in tandem with tribal, state, local, and other federal law enforcement agencies. Their combined efforts serve tribal self-determination by helping tribal governments protect their sovereignty from being undermined by criminal enterprises.

The OJS and its partners help tribal leaders and members combat illicit drug activities that afflict their communities, as well as bring aid and comfort to the victims of the violent crimes that result from drug-dealing and substance abuse. One way has been to increase detection and investigation of drug trafficking in and around tribal communities through increased training of law enforcement and tribal court personnel, and by raising community awareness.

Created in March 2018 to combat the opioid crisis in tribal communities, the Interior’s Joint Opioid Reduction Task Force implemented a general plan to dismantle and disrupt opioid and heroin distribution networks in Indian Country by identifying individuals involved in the transportation, sale, distribution, and use of illegal opioids. Since then, the Task Force has made great strides in disrupting and taking down drug-trafficking networks while bringing their operators to justice.

To date, the Task Force has made more than 840 arrests and seized more than three tons of illegal narcotics with an estimated street value of more than $32 million — successful operations that have made the Task Force a model for other law enforcement agencies. Numerous operations have taken place around the country in states including Arizona, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Nevada, and Washington.

No administration in recent history has made such a vigorous investment of resources into combatting drug-related crime in Indian Country, both through the Task Force and by assisting tribal law enforcement programs. As a result, in 2019, the number of drug cases opened across all Indian Country law enforcement was approximately 26 percent higher than in 2018 and more than 200 percent higher than in the last year of the previous administration.

Another way the OJS is striving to make tribal communities safer is through drug training for BIA law enforcement personnel, including Indian Police Academy cadets, patrol officers, and criminal investigators. Since 2018, more than 1,200 men and women have been trained in all aspects of drug detection and investigation, ranging from drug awareness and identification to evidence collection and drug lab recognition to surveillance and officer safety.

Complementing the training for law enforcement is the OJS’s community-based training for service providers and tribal members to educate them on the identification and effects of opioids, heroin, and Fentanyl, causes of overdoses, combatting opioids and heroin at the community level, and investigating and prosecuting drug cases. From 2018 through today, the OJS has held more than 100 opioid community awareness and training events, with more than 2,000 attendees from almost 40 tribes who are now better equipped to help combat the influence of opioids and other illicit drugs in their areas.

Cold cases also present one of the most daunting challenges for any police force, but especially for Indian Country law enforcement. The White House’s Operation Lady Justice Task Force has made addressing this issue a priority. One of the most glaring obstacles to solving cold cases in Indian Country has been the lack of a national database that captures and tracks missing and murdered American Indian and Alaska Native persons.

In 2018, the OJS partnered with the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, the national information clearinghouse and resource center for missing, unidentified, and unclaimed person cases across the United States (known as NamUs). New data fields have been created for tribal affiliation to aid in identifying American Indian and Alaska Native missing and murdered victims.

This year, the OJS has identified seven locations where cold case task forces will be established: Anchorage, Alaska; Billings, Montana; Rapid City, South Dakota; Bloomington, Minnesota; Nashville, Tennessee; Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Phoenix, Arizona. They will be staffed by newly created special agents from the OJS, as well as task force partners including tribal officers and individuals from the FBI and the offices of U.S. attorneys.

Under President Trump’s leadership, through the Operation Lady Justice and the Joint Opioid Reduction Task Forces, we are making real progress towards making tribal communities safer for everyone. There is still much more to do. We continue to work with the U.S. Department of Justice and our other law enforcement partners, to combat drug trafficking and substance abuse and bring justice to Native crime victims and their families.

Tara Katuk Sweeney, an Iñupiat member of the Native Village of Barrow and the Iñupiat Community of the Arctic Slope, serves as Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs at the U.S. Department of the Interior. She also serves as a member of the Operation Lady Justice Task Force established by President Donald Trump’s November 26, 2019, executive order on supporting and protecting Native American women and children.