A House committee is passing a bill that seeks to close the gap when a missing indigenous person is taken off the reservation.
The tribes and FBI are aware of the missing person, but the state can be out of the loop.
Democratic Representative Peri Pourier is Oglala Lakota. She says the bill establishes the Office of Liaison for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons in the Attorney General’s office.
That office would coordinate with the many governmental jurisdictions that exist in South Dakota.
“When a child or a woman or any missing person crosses off of the reservation we have a seamless operation,” Pourier says. “Which happens in sometimes other crimes, like fugitives. When it comes to missing and murdered indigenous women and children it’s unseen and it’s unheard.”
Last year, former-President Donald Trump signed two bills aimed at addressing missing and murdered indigenous women and children, Savannah’s Act and Not Invisible Act.
Pourier says there are currently 77 missing indigenous people from reservations located within South Dakota’s state borders.