From Tuesday, Oct. 17 through Friday, Oct. 20, Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta traveled to Alaska to speak at the Alaska Federation of Natives’ annual convention, meet with Alaska Native and local partners, and reaffirm the Justice Department’s commitment to promoting Tribal sovereignty and to keeping all Alaskans safe. The Associate Attorney General was joined on the trip by Director Tracy Toulou of the Office of Tribal Justice and Director Rosemarie Hidalgo of the Office on Violence Against Women, as well as by U.S. Attorney Lane Tucker for the District of Alaska. The Associate Attorney General’s travel to Alaska continues a series of meetings with Tribal governments and follows recent remarks at the Justice Department’s 18th Annual Government-to-Government Violence Against Women Tribal Consultation. It also follows an August visit to Alaska by the Attorney General and is part of the Justice Department’s continued efforts to engage with American Indian and Alaska Native leaders.
Outlining Justice Department Commitments to Support Tribal Jurisdiction and Safety: Alaska Federation of Natives 2023 Annual Convention
In remarks to the 2023 Annual Convention of the Alaska Federation of Natives, the Associate Attorney General announced the launch of the Justice Department’s Alaska Pilot Program, along with other Justice Department initiatives, litigation, and grants to support Tribal sovereignty and keep all Alaskans safe.
The 2022 Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA 2022) provides a path for Alaska Tribes to exercise special Tribal criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians who commit certain crimes, including crimes of sexual or domestic violence, in Native Villages. Through the Alaska Pilot Program, the Justice Department will provide Tribes with guidance and resources to consider exercising this jurisdiction. The Associate Attorney General also announced that the Justice Department’s Office of Tribal Justice is releasing a memorandum confirming Tribes’ inherent civil and criminal jurisdiction over Natives present in their Villages.
The Associate Attorney General also unveiled nearly $97 million in new Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation (CTAS) grant funding for American Indian and Alaska Native communities. These grant awards will help enhance Tribal justice systems and strengthen law enforcement responses, improve the handling of child abuse cases, combat domestic and sexual violence, support Tribal youth programs, and fund an array of services for American Indian and Alaska Native crime victims. The awards are part of the Justice Department’s commitment to providing funding to advance public safety in rural Alaska, as well as to ensuring that the Department’s grant resources are as accessible as possible to Tribes and Native organizations. The Associate Attorney General also outlined ongoing efforts by the Justice Department’s grantmaking offices to engage directly with Alaska Native communities and make grant and technical assistance resources more accessible.
In addition to these announcements, the Associate Attorney General reaffirmed the Justice Department’s commitment to supporting Tribal sovereignty and Tribal issues through litigation, including in the Department’s successful defense of the Indian Child Welfare Act at the Supreme Court, and in ongoing litigation against the State of Alaska to protect subsistence resources from depletion.
Meetings with Tribal and Community Leaders, Public Safety Officials, and Advocates in Nome, Alaska
The Associate Attorney General began her trip by traveling to Nome to meet with leaders from local Tribal nonprofit Kawerak, Inc., which represents the 20 Tribes in the Bering Strait Region; the City of Nome; and surrounding Tribal Villages.
The Associate Attorney General met with Kawerak’s leadership, discussed the organization’s work to enhance Tribal justice systems, heard about the region’s subsistence-use needs, and learned about Kawerak and other organizations’ work to support survivors of domestic violence and sexual abuse. The Associate Attorney General also toured Kawerak’s child advocacy center, which provides resources for minors who are victims of physical or sexual abuse. Kawerak receives grant funding from the Justice Department for its work to prevent and respond to domestic and sexual violence in Alaska Native communities throughout the Bering Strait Region.
The Associate Attorney General also met with officials from the Nome region’s Tribal governments and Tribal associations. She heard from a representative of the Village of Solomon about the importance of addressing the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP). And she spoke with a Village Public Safety Officer from the Village of Shishmaref about the unique challenges of ensuring public safety in rural Alaska. Finally, the Associate Attorney General visited Norton Sound Regional Hospital and met with the supervisor of the hospital’s sexual assault medical forensic examination program. Norton Sound receives Justice Department funding to partner with other members of the Bering Strait Sexual Assault Response Team to increase access to forensic exams for sexual assault survivors in the region’s remote Villages.
In addition, the Associate Attorney General met with leadership in the City of Nome, including the police chief and city manager, as well as the superintendent of the Anvil Mountain Correctional Center, a local facility. The Associate Attorney General engaged with these officials about the importance of recruiting and retaining police officers and other public-safety officials, as well as the need to ensure reentry services for the correctional facility’s incarcerated population.
Meetings with Justice Department Officials, Native Leaders, and Local Legal Community in Anchorage, Alaska
On Thursday, Oct. 19, the Associate Attorney General spent time in Anchorage visiting with the U.S. Attorney’s Office leadership, attorneys, and staff. During her visit, the Associate Attorney General was briefed on civil and criminal issues arising in Alaska. She also participated in a fireside chat with U.S. Attorney Tucker at an event hosted by the Federal Bar Association’s Alaska chapter.
In addition, Associate Attorney General Gupta met with leaders of the Alaska Court System’s Eviction Diversion Program, which is employing strategies to avoid contested landlord-tenant litigation. The program was established with a grant through the National Center for State Courts, which followed a letter that the Associate Attorney General sent to state court administrators in June 2021 encouraging them to consider novel solutions “that can help families avoid the disruption and damage that evictions cause.”
Associate Attorney General Gupta also attended the second meeting of the Alaska Tribal Public Safety Advisory Committee. Created by VAWA 2022, the Advisory Committee includes representatives from Alaska Tribes, federal, Tribal, State, and local law enforcement, and Tribal nonprofit organizations. The Associate Attorney General delivered remarks recognizing the region’s public-safety challenges and expressing the Justice Department’s commitment to partnering with Tribes and Native groups.
On Friday, Oct. 20, the Associate Attorney General held additional meetings with Native leaders, including with representatives from the Association of Village Council Presidents, a nonprofit Tribal consortium supporting the 56 Tribes of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, and the Alaska Native Justice Center, which recently received a Justice Department grant to provide technical assistance to Tribes seeking to exercise the special Tribal criminal jurisdiction authorized in VAWA 2022. The Associate Attorney General also met with family members of Alaska Natives who were victims of the MMIP crisis and who died in state custody.
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