The Department of Homeland Security plans to announce Tuesday that, for the first time, it is launching a large-scale effort with a major industry in tribal communities to fight human trafficking, which disproportionately affects Native women.
The department’s Blue Campaign, its public awareness effort on trafficking, is . At least 506 indigenous women and girls have gone missing or been murdered in 71 U.S. cities, including more than 330 since 2010, according to a November 2018 report by Urban Indian Health Institute. And that’s likely a gross undercount, given the limited or complete lack of data typically collected by law enforcement agencies. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland has targeted this problem as a major priority.
Tuesday’s action is not the first time DHS has engaged with tribes to fight human trafficking. In 2020, the department created a training video for how to identify trafficking in tribal communities. But Tuesday’s news is a huge leap forward in terms of scale: There are 510 Indian casinos, bingo halls and other gambling operations owned by 243 federally recognized tribes and spread across 29 states. Employees at all of these sites will now be trained on how to detect and report trafficking.
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“Human trafficking is one of the worst forms of violence,” said Jeannie Hovland, vice chair of the National Indian Gaming Commission and director of its Office of Self-Regulation. “As a partner in this process to develop training and outreach materials specific to human trafficking indicators in the tribal gaming industry, the Agency is grateful to share our expertise and the input we received from tribes and tribal gaming operations.”
