Native American tribal leaders have issued an urgent plea for help as thousands of drug cartels flood into their isolated lands and “rape and murder” their people.
The groups say Mexican cartels take advantage of their sparsely populated reserves to traffic fentanyl and other drugs into the United States because they have no police or funds to stop them.
Testifying before Congress, the president of the Fort Belknap Indian Community in Montana, Jeffrey Stiffarm, said: ‘We are fighting a losing battle. The cartels are winning, the drug traffickers are winning.”
rigid 652,000 acres Mountain The reserve has only nine police officers, meaning gangs can operate with impunity, he said: ‘They know we are understaffed, underfunded, undertrained, and they outnumber us.’
The groups are calling for more funding, saying: ‘As Congress funds billions in federal aid to foreign countries to protect their borders and kill.’ Indian Country needs funds to protect our borders and save lives.’
Testifying before Congress, the president of the Fort Belknap Indian Community in Montana, Jeffrey Stiffarm, said: “We are fighting a losing battle.”
Mexican cartels take advantage of their sparsely populated reserves to traffic fentanyl and other drugs to the United States.
It’s been a problem for a long time, as a 2006 Department of Justice document found that “Mexican drug cartels have been deliberately targeting rural Native American reservations.”
The lands are sparsely populated, far from urban centers, and underfunded, with little federal support for law enforcement.
In 1997, the federal government gave Fort Belknap $1.2 million for law enforcement; 27 years later, in 2023, this amount had only increased to $1.3 million.
The areas also struggle with high unemployment and poverty, which Stiffarm says makes it easier for cartels to target vulnerable residents.
He said: ‘They are taking advantage of our people, our children, our women. They take hold and are here.
“These drug cartels are specifically targeting Indian Country due to a dangerous combination of rural terrain, history of addiction, under-resourced law enforcement, legal loopholes, sparsely populated communities, and exorbitant profits.”
He said the cartels have good practice in sneaking shipments past their officers, staging fake emergencies to get the attention of authorities and then moving the drugs through the reservation.
They mostly traffic fentanyl pills, which can be made for as little as 25 cents but sell for up to $100.
In addition to gang-related violence and crime, the presence of cartels has contributed to rising overdose rates.
Overdose death rates for Native Americans are more than double those of other state residents, according to Montana health department data, and one group declared a state of emergency last year after 17 deaths occurred in one week.
The areas struggle with high unemployment and poverty, making their vulnerable residents easy targets.
In addition to gang-related violence and crime, the presence of cartels has contributed to rising overdose rates.
Stiffarm calls for more funding to increase surveillance and tackle the problem
Stiffarm calls for more funding, saying that if the government can afford to donate $95 million in foreign aid, it can give more to Native American communities.
A 2018 report by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights found that “federal funding for Native American programs across the government remains grossly inadequate to meet the most basic needs that the federal government is obligated to provide.
“Since 2003, funding for Native American programs has remained virtually the same, and in the few cases where there have been increases, they have barely kept up with inflation or, in fact, have resulted in a decrease of purchasing power”.
Stiffarm said: ‘I blame the Federal Government squarely for the drug and cartel crisis.
‘The FBI doesn’t do anything on the reservation unless there is a death or a serious crime. The government knew the cartels were moving into the reserves, but did nothing.’