These gaps have led Native American police Reuters met with to take matters into their own hands, some forming their own missing units. Driven by decades of Native American activism, data showing the scale of the crisis, and the appointment of the United States' first ever Native American cabinet secretary Deb Haaland, the issue of missing indigenous people entered the U.S. mainstream in the last five years. MORE AT RISKFactors ranging from poverty and a history of colonial oppression make Native American people disproportionately at risk of going missing. REUTERS/Adria Malcolm“Very few tribes have the funds and staff available to make MMIWR a priority,” said Darlene Gomez, an Albuquerque lawyer who represents families in 17 missing Native American cases. Families of victims and their lawyers say police routinely blame missing Native American women for their own disappearance due to factors such as substance abuse — and it’s not just outsiders.

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Persons: Kathleen Lucero, didn’t, Lucero, ”, Isleta, “, Victor Rodriguez, Deb Haaland, Bryan Newland, ” Newland, Adria Malcolm “, Darlene Gomez, Daryl Noon, “ We've, ” Noon, Raul Torrez, Torrez, Zachariah Shorty, Vangie Randall, Shorty, Randall, Raul Bujanda, Bujanda, it’s, Jamie Yazzie, Yazzie's, Tre James, Noon, Michael Henderson, Andrew Hay, Donna Bryson, Claudia Parsons Organizations: Reuters, American, of Indian Affairs, Bay, Indian, Isleta Police Department, REUTERS, New, HOME, BIA, Unit, FBI, Navajo, Thomson Locations: ISLETA PUEBLO, N.M, Manzano, New Mexico, American, U.S, Pueblo, Albuquerque, Oklahoma, United States, Isleta Pueblo, Navajo, Arizona, Utah, Native, Albuquerque’s Bernalillo, Kirtland , New Mexico, Mexico, Washington