Lawmakers seek protections for Native women, children
Unraveling jurisdictional hurdles and improving infrastructure in Indian Country are among the solutions members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation are offering to protect Native American women and children from domestic abuse.
U.S. Sen. Tom Udall and U.S. Rep. Deb Haaland have offered provisions to protect Native women in the Violence Against Women Act, the reauthorization of which now rests in the Senate after passing the House.
U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján shared the story of Ashlynne Mike, a 7-year-old Navajo girl who was kidnapped and murdered, in making a pitch for broadband service in a meeting with President Donald Trump, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer at the White House.
Udall and Haaland offer frightening statistics behind their efforts:
• Eighty-four percent of Native women have experienced violence in their lifetime.
• In some tribal communities, Native women are murdered at rates more than 10 times the national average.
• One out of three Native women has been raped.
Read more: https://www.abqjournal.com/1314628/lawmakers-seek-protections-for-native-women-children.html
(Albuquerque Journal)