Cole Welsh, Editor

Last week, the Department of Justice announced that it will serve assets across America to address unsolved violent crime and missing person cases on tribal lands.

To address this uptick in violent crime, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) will send 60 special agents to Indian reservations all over the country as part of Operation Not Forgotten.

Working on 90-day temporary duty assignments over a six-month period, these agents will support field offices in Albuquerque, Denver, Jackson (MS), Minneapolis, Oklahoma City, Phoenix, Portland (OR), Seattle and Salt Lake City.

While local police departments and sheriffs traditionally do not have jurisdiction on Indian reservations, the FBI has special jurisdiction to commit crimes on about 200 reservations nationwide, as outlined in the General Crimes Act and the Major Crimes Act.

FBI personnel will work with the Bureau of Indian Affairs Missing and Murdered Unit to utilize the latest forensic evidence and technology to solve open cases. In particular, there will be a priority placed on cases involving violence against women and children.

According to FBI Director Kash Patel, the FBI will “manhunt violent criminals on all lands” and also “find those who have gone missing.”

As the goal is to both reduce violent crime and prosecute those victimizing the innocent, the FBI will work with federal prosecutors to ensure a seamless prosecution.

In fact, Attorney General Pam Bondi, who has gained a reputation for her tough-on-crime philosophy, has instructed US Attorney’s Offices to aggressively prosecute case referrals, which is in line with her numerous tough-on-crime policies.

This deployment, which will be the longest and most intensive one to date, comes amid surging crime rates in American Indian and Alaska Native communities.

At the beginning of Fiscal Year 2025, the FBI had roughly 4,300 open investigations, including 900 death investigations and 1,000 child abuse investigations.

In New Mexico, the FBI plans to focus its efforts on the Navajo Nation, which sees a disproportionate number of violent crimes against women and children.

Operation Not Forgotten, an initiative that launched in 2023, revamps efforts begun during President Trump’s first term under Executive Order 13898, Establishing the Task Force on Missing and Murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives.

This latest deployment is the third one under Operation Not Forgotten, which has provided investigative assistance to over 500 cases in the past two years.

Combined, the first two deployments resulted in the rescue of 10 child victims, 52 arrests and 25 indictments.

Although the success of this new deployment has yet to be determined, it is clear that this operation will be the longest and most intensive national deployment of FBI agents to date. Thus, Native American communities and law enforcement alike remain optimistic that this renewed focus on tribal crime will help tackle the decades-long crisis.