03-04-2025
'Operation Not Forgotten' will add resources in missing, murdered Indigenous people crisis
The U.S. Department of Justice has announced the next phase of a multi-year initiative to address the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people.
Operation Not Forgotten, which assigns FBI personnel to key offices serving Native communities, was started in 2023 as part of the government's Task Force on Missing and Murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives, also known as Operation Lady Justice. The task force was established by an executive order in 2019 during President Donald Trump's first term.
This year's deployment will be the FBI's longest and most intensive to date to address the MMIP epidemic, according to the agency. The FBI will rotate 60 people to field offices in 10 cities, including Phoenix and Albuquerque, for 90-day temporary duty assignments over six months.
FBI staff will provide extra hands to address major crimes in Indian Country. The agency will also partner with the Missing and Murdered Unit of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, as well as tribal law enforcement agencies across jurisdictions.
'This deployment will help push things along to help us be better and more effective, and help close cases better and sooner,' said Jose A. Perez, special agent in charge of the FBI's Phoenix field office. The agency will also collect and analyze more data to help identify trouble spots where more resources can be directed.
The task force will bring 11 agents over a six-month period to Arizona, supplying additional staffing resources, the latest forensic evidence processing technology and analytical expertise, he said.
The U.S. Attorney's Offices are also part of the task force and will aggressively prosecute Indian Country cases.
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One recent MMIP case that the FBI helped solve involved a 32-year-old Navajo woman named Jamie Yazzie, who had been reported missing from her Navajo Nation home in 2019. Two years later, her remains were found on neighboring Hopi Tribe lands.
Yazzie's family pursued justice for another three years before an arrest was made. In 2023, Tre C. James was convicted of her murder.
But while MMIP activists celebrated that conviction, more cases are awaiting justice. And some want to remind the federal government to respect tribal sovereignty.
Valaura Imus-Nahsonhoya, a victim advocate and MMIP coordinator for Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, said while she is excited for the new devotion of resources, it is important for the federal government to continue to respect the authority of tribal jurisdictions.
'I hope that with the increase of these agents coming into Arizona, we will have the manpower and the capacity to be able to help these families,' she said. 'But we also need to ensure that they are working cooperatively with tribes, with our county, our city municipalities.'
Imus-Nahsonhoya said communication between Indian Country and federal authorities is 'not perfect' and the FBI could improve the dialogue by keeping families up to date on investigations.
'Our families want some kind of a response,' she said 'Even if it's just 'we are continuing to investigate. We currently don't have any updates, but as soon as we know, we will notify you.' Sometimes that's all they're asking for.'
With a renewed focus on responding to cold cases, Imus-Nahsonhoya said it's important not to lose sight of the need for preventative measures — promoting education and awareness, providing people with jobs and housing — so these tragedies are less likely to occur in the first place.
'We've made some small moves to where some agencies have made some amendments or modifications to the language of criteria funding criteria to include prevention,' she said. 'However, it's still not where we would want it to be.'
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Perez said the FBI is part of the Safe Trails Task Forces, which includes federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement partners investigating crimes in roughly 200 tribal communities nationwide.
Operation Not Forgotten will also include a victim-centered approach to cases using victim service programs. 'We will be providing resources to families and victims,' Perez said.
This and other such task forces and interagency partnerships are sorely needed. The BIA's Office of Justice Services estimated that some 4,200 missing and murdered cases are currently unsolved.
The FBI said that, as of October 2025, its Indian Country program was dealing with about 4,300 open investigations including more than 900 death cases, 1,000 incidents of child abuse and more than 500 domestic violence and adult sexual abuse investigations.
That number is likely to rise as task force personnel fan out to tribal communities to gather data on stagnant cases.
'Many tribes don't have the capacity to report cases,' Perez said.
Also, Perez said the task force hopes that adding agents and analysts to FBI offices even temporarily will help free up capacity to work on the agency's heavy caseload and bring more cases to closure − and perpetrators to justice.
'We're putting our money where our mouth is.'
Debra Krol reports on Indigenous communities at the confluence of climate, culture and commerce in Arizona and the Intermountain West. Reach Krol at Follow her on X, formerly Twitter @debkrol.
Coverage of Indigenous issues at the intersection of climate, culture and commerce is supported by the Catena Foundation.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Justice Department expands help for missing and murdered Indigenous People
