Navajo official tells Congress: We need federal support for missing, murdered Indigenous people

A Navajo Nation government official recently addressed members of Congress about the dire need for federal support to solve and prevent cases of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People.

The Navajo Nation’s Law and Order Committee Chair Eugenia Charles-Newton told the subcommittee that on top of poor communication between different governments, tribal law enforcement is often lacking resources.

She said that means the nation’s 32 investigators spend the bulk of their time having to pick up more routine work coroners and medical examiners would typically handle.

“Navajo proposed for two-year funding to establish a medical legal death investigation system,” said Charles-Newton. “And if approved, this would allow the Navajo Nation to be the first tribe to hire coroners and possibly one medical examiner to handle deaths on the Navajo Nation.”

Jurisdictional issues are near the top of the list and often contribute to crimes going largely uninvestigated and unsolved. Charles-Newton shared the story of tribe member Zachariah Shorty, whose mother was left in the dark when he disappeared in 2020.

“Four days after she reported Zach missing – or, she tried to report him missing,” she said, “he was found dead in a field in Nenahnezad, New Mexico, on the Navajo Nation.”

Charles-Newton called on Congress to act immediately and improve collaboration between federal, state and tribal governments to solve this national issue.