Anson Stevens-Bollen
Through countless generations in the Southwest, Indigenous women and girls have gone missing or been murdered at much higher rates than other races. It's a crisis that a state-mandated task force composed of government and tribal appointees set out to tackle with a plan to spend a year compiling a comprehensive report of data.
But, unfortunately, that year was 2020.
The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives Task Force faced significant hurdles: first, unresponsive law enforcement agencies unwilling or unable to share data combined with a small budget and then, suddenly, the COVID-19 pandemic sent all of the task force's meetings online, if they happened at all.
Despite the difficult undertaking, the group released a 64-page report at the end of 2020, a little over a month late, and cutting it very close to the start of the 2021 legislative session. The report found gaps in available data, and the task force did not recommend strong policy changes.
But the three original sponsors of the first measure that set up the task force promised to pursue renewed legislation in 2021 to continue the work.
House Bill 208, which would extend the existence of the task force until the end of FY 2022, expand and diversify the members of the group, bring in the New Mexico Public Safety Department as a consultant and stakeholder, mandate the creation of policy recommendations, and give the Indian Affairs Department $50,000, was tabled in the House Appropriations and Finance Committee back in February and shows few signs of return in the final days of the session
Supporters and lawmakers are preparing for the worst-case scenario: a year where the task force is not sanctioned by the Legislature. Even if the task force's enabling legislation is not renewed, one senator from Indian Country has found a way to try to funnel cash for the cause. Sen. Benny Shendo, D-Jemez Springs, has offered to give the department $50,000 from his part of a supplemental, or "junior" spending bill, which allots money to each lawmaker for pet projects.
But that legislation is still awaiting Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's signature. Her office did not reply to a request for comment by presstime.
"Ultimately, we were placed in an awkward position in hoping that our legislation would make it all the way through, but once we were promised some continued funding, that seemed to be the safest route to go at that time to ensure that we at least have the funds to continue this work," Stephanie Salazar, general counsel for Indian Affairs, tells SFR. "I think some of the structural changes that we wanted to make, we felt would be stronger had it been implemented through legislation."
Those structural changes would include adding more state representatives and Indigenous community members to the task force, as well as continuing work with Harvard's Nation Building course, which is helping the group with policy recommendations.
Some of the small amount of funding would go toward compensating members for their time and travel as well as administrative costs stemming from the task force and community meetings. The meetings include multiple presenters from all over the state in areas where the MMIWR crisis is particularly prevalent.
Without the backing of HB 208, Salazar says the task force will be left without formality that is helpful when asking law enforcement agencies for their data on MMIWR cases. And more of the work will have to be done on a volunteer basis.
There is also the possibility that a task force could be created by an executive order.
But much of the potential state support is still bookended by question marks.
There is no question, according to lawmakers and state representatives, however, that the MMIWR work will continue. Rep. Andrea Romero, D-Santa Fe, one of the original sponsors of the legislation, says it is "critical" the task force continues, with or without funding or law.
"We just want to see the work continue and that's what this will provide for," Romero says of the pending funding. "It takes the constraint off of the department to figure out how to do it otherwise, because it is a priority for them regardless. But this really ensures that they can get it done."
