Murkowski Working with FBI Director to Address MMIWG and Fentanyl in Alaska
Washington, DC – During a U.S. Senate Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee hearing this week, U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) secured commitments from the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) to work with her on critical public safety issues for Alaska. As Alaska struggles with Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls cases and fentanyl-related deaths, Director Kash Patel pledged to make Alaska a priority as the Bureau addresses these life-and-death matters.
Click here to watch the Senator’s full line of questioning.
The full transcript of Murkowski’s comments is below.
Murkowski: Director, good morning. This a week that a lot of Alaskans are paying attention to. Monday was the day that we recognize Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Awareness day. I’ve just been going through the morning clips, not while you have been testifying of course, but this morning. And there’s accounts in Anchorage, Juneau, and Fairbanks, and marches in Nome, all recounting very painful stories that families have endured, of their family members who have gone missing, where law enforcement just was not present for a host of different reasons. You and I talked about this prior to your confirmation and it is something that I have been working on for a period of years now. We have made some good progress under the first Trump Administration. There was a focus called ‘Operation Lady Justice’ and now I am pleased to see that we have this expanded to what you’re calling ‘Operation Not Forgotten,’ to look into unresolved violent crimes in Indian Country including cases involving missing/murdered indigenous persons.
I am looking critically at the budget here and wondering if you can share with me how the budget requests, or what we have of it at this point in time, will support this expansion of ‘Operation Not Forgotten’. I need to be able to give folks back home the comfort that they need to know that these cases that have gone cold, for not just months and years, but decades, will not be dropped. That that push for closure will continue. What can you share with me this morning?
Patel: Senator, I greatly appreciate you highlighting and being a champion of crimes on Indian Country. And just this week I was the first FBI Director in U.S. History to sit down at the Department of the Interior with the Tribal leaders at the STAT level. I also met privately with the parents of Emily Pike, who was tragically butchered on a reservation in Arizona and her parents asked me to find the remaining pieces of her body that have not been returned. She is a 14-year-old girl, she is still missing her arms, they only have her torso. What I told them, and what I hope you take back to Alaska and what the rest of the tribal community hears, is that every crime in this country will be treated equally. Those that happen on Indian Country and those that are happening to Native Americans are just as horrific as those happening in the rest of America. We’ve already prioritized resources in our state level task forces to address these matters. And I asked the staff to allow FBI agents onto reservations on a more regular basis and engage with them directly. I also invited the community leaders to nominate a law enforcement officer from one of the tribal jurisdictions to sit with me at the Hoover Building in the FBI so that we have a direct engagement with the community. So, we are, just one highlight, I think in Wind River, we executed an operation that took down, I can’t remember how many dozens of pounds of fentanyl that was heading to an Indian reservation. So, you have my commitment that we will not forget it.
Murkowski: Well thank you for that broader commitment. As you know of, course, we don’t have reservations in Alaska, we don’t have the same type of tribal law enforcement presence. So, some unique aspects of it. My understanding is the Alaska field office in Anchorage, along with the two satellite offices that we have, one in Fairbanks and one in Juneau, they have one FBI Victim Service Coordinator to communicate with these families. This has been part of the problem. It’s radio silence out of the agency. They don’t know whether a case is being pursued, they hear nothing. So, I would ask that you look, as you’re looking at your budget, to make sure that the FBI does include support for Victim Service Coordinators on this. It’s a gap that is missing right now.
Very quickly, we also talked about the fentanyl crisis in Alaska. We are the one state that tragically is going the wrong way when it comes to fentanyl deaths. We had a 40% increase in fentanyl deaths in 2023. You had indicated that you would be doing aggressive work here. We need to be doing more and I’ve shared that it ought to be easier intercept drugs that are coming into Alaska because they come in by air plane, they come through the mail, and they occasionally come in by boat. Maybe a little bit driving across through the border. But we’ve got the ability to do the interception and right now our numbers are not going down. I just ask for your continued commitment with this. We are seeing FBI partnering with ICE for arrests and detentions of immigrants in Alaska. Folks are asking me, “are we using FBI resources?” Redirecting them from the fentanyl crisis to perhaps perusing that have been targeted immigrants even though they aren’t violent criminals. So, I’d love to have further conversations with you on some of these Alaska specifics, but we have got to start turning that corner on fentanyl.
Patel: Yes, ma’am, and I think you know this: we are sending a plus up to Alaska in part of this movement out to the field and we will look to address those specific issues, and I will work with you and your office to make sure that Alaska is not forgotten and that we emphasize it.
Murkowski: Very good, appreciate it. Thank you very much.
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