Yakima attorney takes on MMIP crisis as part of new DOJ program

The missing and murdered Indigenous people crisis is personal for Bree Black Horse. And, as of earlier this year, professional.

Black Horse, 35, was sworn in this month as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Washington.

She is one of five attorneys placed across the United States as part of the newly created Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Regional Outreach Program created by the Department of Justice.

Each attorney will work with a coordinator to help connect them across the large region they cover. Black Horse will work in Yakima but serve the entire Northwest region, including Oregon, Montana, Idaho and California.

Crimes in Indian Country fall into a unique jurisdictional quagmire. Tribal courts often have jurisdiction followed by the federal system.

Federal prosecutors are more used to trying multinational drug crimes than attempted stabbings, domestic violence and murder, Black Horse said.

Investigating crimes in Indian Country is often made more complex by the generations of trauma and mistrust of government, she added.

Black Horse hopes that her existing relationships and upbringing around a variety of tribal cultures will make her the perfect fit for the role.

“There’s an emphasis on relationship building here,” she said. “To be stronger where you have something that comes across your desk and you can just pick up the phone and call somebody you know and get information.”

Black Horse spent her childhood traveling with her parents, who are both Native artists, traveled to Indian art shows locally and across the country. Her mother sold traditional textiles and her dad is a Blackfeet ledger artist.

She is an enrolled member of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma but grew up experiencing a host of Pacific Northwest Native cultures.

After graduating from Seattle University School of Law in 2013, Black Horse went on to advise and represent tribal governments on a host of issues as part of the Native American practice group at the law firm Kilpatrick Townsend.

In 2019, she and her husband, who is also an attorney and enrolled Nez Perce, moved to Yakima to work for the Yakama Nation.

“When I heard about this position and that it was going to be here in the Eastern District … I just knew I had to serve in this role,” Black Horse said. “Especially as a tribal person because my lived experience in tribal communities, both in my personal capacity and in my prior work advocating on behalf of tribes and tribal people, including doing civil rights work on behalf of individual tribal members, helps me better understand the experiences and needs of our people and families.”

Black Horse hopes to work not only on pending cases but on prevention, in part by prosecuting crimes that are often a precursor to homicide.

In the Northwest, there’s data to indicate that crimes like domestic violence, human trafficking, child abuse and narcotics trafficking are related to homicides.

Prevention isn’t just prosecuting those cases but getting victims the help they need.

“How do we get that person the resources that they need? Before it ends up as a murder case on my desk,” Black Horse said.

Prosecutors often need help with these types of cases, Black Horse said, “because they can be difficult.”

Tribal police, federal and local law enforcement are supposed to overlap to investigate many of these cases but with so many agencies involved things can slip through the cracks, which Black Horse hopes to resolve.

Through a victim-centered approach, Black Horse hopes to close those gaps.

Tribal law enforcement agencies are chronically understaffed, an issues Sen. Maria Cantwell brought to the Committee on Indian Affairs this week.

“According to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, tribal communities need over 13,600 additional law enforcement personnel just to meet the FBI’s Community Safe standard,” Cantwell told the committee. “So that means that many tribes do not have enough law enforcement to tackle these big problems like fentanyl or murdered and missing Indigenous people.”

The Colville Tribal Police Department has eight vacancies out of their 29 officer positions, according to a news release from Cantwell.

The Spokane Tribal Police Department has 10 officers and one sergeant. The chief of police told Cantwell the department needs six to eight additional officers to adequately protect the area.

A cohesive federal response is required, Black Horse said, to make progress .

“We have for generations experienced the heartache and trauma that comes from mourning a missing or murdered loved one,” Black Horse said. “I really believe that our future generations in Indian country don’t have to experience that same kind of disproportionate violence.”