June 28 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Justice has launched an outreach program to help address cases of missing and murdered Indigenous people.
"The Justice Department today announced the creation of the Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) Regional Outreach Program, which permanently places 10 attorney and coordinators in five designated regions across the United States to aid in the prevention and response to missing or murdered Indigenous people," the Justice department said in a press release Wednesday.
The program comes as an effort to fulfill Executive Order 14053 Improving Public Safety and Criminal Justice for Native Americans and Addressing the Crisis of Missing or Murdered Indigenous People.
The executive order calls for a "coordinated and comprehensive federal law enforcement strategy to prevent and respond to violence against Native Americans, including to address missing or murdered Indigenous people where the federal government has jurisdiction."
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The Justice Department also says the new initiative is also intended to fulfill the attorney general's 2022 Federal Law Enforcement Strategy to Prevent and respond to Violence Against American Indians and Alaska Natives, Including to Address Missing or Murdered Indigenous People.
The strategy calls on the Justice Department to create new plans to address public safety on American Indian Nations.
"The new program mobilizes the Justice Department's resources to combat the crisis of Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons, which has shattered the lives of victims, their families, and entire Tribal communities," Attorney General Merrick Garland said.
The program will assign five assistant U.S. attorneys and five coordinators to assist U.S. attorneys' offices in five regions. The regions covered are the Southwest, the Northwest, the Great Lakes, the Great Plains and the Southeast.
"MMIP prosecutors and coordinators will work alongside the Tribal communities who have been most devastated by this epidemic," said Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco.
