MMIWR: A Crisis Hidden in Plain Sight

MMIWR stands for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives. It describes a national crisis involving the disproportionate rates of disappearance, homicide, domestic violence, sexual assault, exploitation, and human trafficking experienced by Indigenous people.

Jurisdictional gaps do not only burden Tribal communities. They also deeply impact Native Americans living in urban areas. Whether on or off the reservation, cases involving missing and murdered relatives, domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking are too often delayed, dismissed, or deprioritized. Across systems, our cases are frequently placed on the back burner.

Let me ask an honest question: Do you think that is accidental?

Jurisdictional confusion has existed since the earliest days of federal control over our people, when movement was restricted and our sovereignty was undermined. Those systems were never designed to protect us. They were designed to manage us. Today, that legacy continues through fragmented law-enforcement authority, unclear responsibility, and agencies passing cases from one office to another while families wait for answers.

More than 70% of Native Americans now live in urban areas. Yet when our relatives go missing or experience violence within city and county jurisdictions, their cases are still often minimized, delayed, or poorly investigated. Urban residency has not brought equal protection. In many ways, it has created new layers of invisibility.

We have to ask ourselves why.

Is it because Native people are still viewed through harmful stereotypes—as alcoholics, addicts, homeless, unstable, “less credible,” “less urgent,” or less worthy of resources? These narratives are not harmless. They shape how reports are received, how quickly searches begin, whether urgency is applied, and whether families are taken seriously.

Native women and relatives experience some of the highest rates of violence in the country, yet our cases remain among the most underreported, under-investigated, and poorly documented. Many law-enforcement agencies still lack clear protocols for responding to Indigenous cases, particularly when Tribal, state, local, and federal jurisdictions overlap. The result can be delayed responses, lost evidence, poor communication, and families being left without answers.

The crisis is also made less visible by failures within our data systems. Indigenous people are still racially misclassified, recorded inconsistently, or excluded from datasets altogether. Cases may be categorized under the wrong race, entered differently across jurisdictions, or never connected to the larger MMIWR crisis. When Native people are not accurately represented in the data, the true scale of the violence is hidden—and hidden communities are easier to overlook when resources and policies are decided.

Decolonizing data means more than correcting a box on a form. It means recognizing Tribal Nations as sovereign governments, respecting Indigenous ownership and stewardship of information, and ensuring that Native people are accurately counted, identified, and represented. We cannot build effective solutions around data that continues to erase us.

We often hear that jurisdiction is “complicated.” But complexity should never mean neglect.

Clear systems can be built. Agreements can be strengthened. Training can be improved. Sovereignty can be respected while coordination is prioritized. The question is whether there is the political and institutional will to do so.

Perhaps part of the problem lies in how law enforcement is trained. Perhaps it lies in how Indigenous communities are historically viewed. Perhaps it lies in systemic racism that has never been fully confronted. Most likely, it is all of the above.

What we do know is this: the same failures appear again and again, both on and off the reservation. Families are left to advocate alone. Mothers become investigators. Communities are forced to organize their own searches. Survivors are asked to prove their pain.

At the same time, Native-led organizations remain among the least funded in the nonprofit sector. Only about one-half of 1% of philanthropic funding reaches Native-led organizations. We are addressing one of the country’s most devastating public-safety and human-rights crises with some of its fewest resources.

There is no consistent, dedicated federal or state funding stream that guarantees direct assistance to every family impacted by MMIP. Not Our Native Daughters must continually fundraise to keep our MMIWR Family Support Fund available. Donations help families with emergency travel and lodging, search coordination, court attendance, human-trafficking response, media advocacy, law-enforcement liaison services, legal-partner referrals, and culturally responsive healing support.

If we are willing to speak honestly about discrimination, bias, jurisdictional failures, data erasure, and institutional neglect, we can begin to change how these cases are handled. Justice will not come from silence. It will come from accountability, transparency, accurate data, adequate resources, and sustained pressure for reform.

We are raising these questions not simply to accuse, but to demand better—to begin honest conversations about solutions, push for systems that value Native lives equally, and ensure that no family is left fighting alone.

Not Our Native Daughters
Because every life deserves urgency.

To learn more, request family support, donate, or become involved, contact us at info@notournativedaughters.org.