PASSED: Cortez Masto’s Legislation to Help Tribes Apprehend Violent Criminals

Washington, D.C. - The Senate unanimously passed U.S. Senator Cortez Masto's (D-Nev.) bipartisan legislation to allow the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) to help Tribal law enforcement track down violent criminals and search for missing children. The Tribal Warrant Fairness Act is part of Cortez Masto's yearslong push to increase public safety in Indian Country and end the epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP). The bill now awaits a vote in the House of Representatives.

"Everyone deserves to feel safe in their communities," said Senator Cortez Masto. "It is a cruel injustice that we are forcing Tribal law enforcement to operate with one hand tied behind their backs while their communities face disproportionately high rates of violence. This bill will solve a problem that has gone unaddressed for too long, and I urge my colleagues in the House to take it up immediately."

Tribal communities experience some of the highest rates of violence, particularly against women and children, in the United States, but Tribal law enforcement often faces limitations on how they can respond. One such limitation is the inability of USMS to help Tribal law enforcement locate and arrest criminal suspects and search for missing children. The USMS provides these services to other law enforcement agencies but is not authorized to do so for Tribal law enforcement. The Tribal Warrant Fairness Act corrects this injustice by authorizing the USMS to assist Tribal law enforcement when they request it as it would any other law enforcement agency.

The full text of the bill can be found here.

The Tribal Warrant Fairness Act is part of Senator Cortez Masto's response to the 2023 Not Invisible Act Commission Report, which gave recommendations to lawmakers and the federal government to combat the MMIP crisis. The commission's report was mandated by Cortez Masto's bipartisan Not Invisible Act, which was signed into law in 2020. Following the report, Cortez Masto has pushed both her BADGES for Native Communities Act and her Tribal Access to Electronic Evidence Act, both of which contain Tribal public safety measures endorsed by the commission. The Not Invisible Act Commission Report was removed from the Department of Justice website more than 485 days ago by the Trump administration and has not been restored. Beyond public safety, Cortez Masto has pushed to better health care, maintain voting rights, and deliver tax parity for Tribes.

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