On May 5, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs announced the members of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Task Force, which she created on March 7 by executive order.
Three representatives from the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community are on the task force: Chief Prosecutor Alane Breland, Council member Mikah Carlos and Council member Wi-Bwa Grey.
“I am humbled by my appointment to Governor Hobbs’ Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Task Force,” said Breland. “In this new role, I commit to increase access to justice for Indigenous people in SRPMIC and Arizona as a whole.”
State Senator Theresa Hatathlie (Diné) will serve as the chair of the task force.
The task force met for the first time on May 8, and it will prepare and submit to Hobbs a report of their activities with recommendations for administrative or legislative action on or before December 1 of each year from 2023 to 2026.
“I am proud to have such an incredible group of people coming together to find solutions to a crisis that has been escalating for the last few years,” said Jason Chavez, director of Tribal Affairs for the Governor’s Office. “We must do all we can to protect our community.”
Other members of the task force are:
- Monica Antone, Lieutenant Governor of the Gila River Indian Community
- Jasmine Blackwater-Nygren, First Lady of the Navajo Nation
- Amber Crotty, Council Delegate, 25th Navajo Nation Council
- Nick Debus, Arizona Attorney General’s Office
- Paul Etnire, Arizona Department of Public Safety
- April Ignacio, co-founding member of Indivisible Tohono
- Jerome Kasey III, Vice Chairman of the White Mountain Apache Tribe
- Kim Russell, Director of the Arizona Advisory Council on Indian Health Care
- Myron Tsosie, Arizona State Representative
- Alfred Urbina, Attorney General for the Pascua Yaqui Tribe
