Senate panel hears of Native women's deaths, disappearances

The sister of a missing Blackfeet woman in Montana expressed frustration Wednesday over law enforcement's initial response to her loved one's disappearance, telling U.S. senators that numerous Native American families are troubled by inadequate investigations into their missing persons cases.

The prepared testimony from Kimberly Loring was part of a hearing held by the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in Washington to examine what authorities call a "silent crisis" — the deaths and disappearance of hundreds of Native American women.

Sen. Tom Udall, a Democrat from New Mexico, said factors compounding the crisis include poor coordination among the multiple law enforcement agencies tasked with investigating crimes on Indian reservations. He and other senators also shared concerns over a lack of government data to measure the scope of a problem that has gained attention following the #MeToo movement, as well as years of legislative efforts to address the high rates of violence against Native American women.

File - In this July 13, 2018, file photo, Kimberly Loring holds a photo of her sister, Ashley HeavyRunner Loring, who went missing on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation as she stands in her grandmother's home in Browning, Mont. Loring, the sister of a missing Blackfeet woman in Montana is expressing frustration over police's initial response to her loved one's disappearance, telling U.S. senators in prepared testimony Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2018, that "dysfunctional" investigations into missing persons cases have troubled numerous Native American families. (AP PhotoDavid Goldman, File)

"The loss is horrific," said John Barrasso, a Republican from Wyoming. "That they are not represented in the data is also horrific."

Ashley HeavyRunner Loring vanished in June 2017 at age 20, leaving her sister Kimberly Loring and others to suspect she was in danger or hurt — possibly even left in the mountains of her reservation near Glacier National Park. Loring recalled that despite these concerns, both Blackfeet tribal police and Bureau of Indian Affairs law enforcement seemed dismissive, saying two months into the search that, "Ashley is of age and can leave whenever she wants to."

Loring also was critical of the BIA's handling of evidence, saying agents failed to ensure a crime lab test was conducted on a stained sweater found early in the investigation and that witnesses believed belonged to HeavyRunner Loring.

A BIA spokeswoman did not immediately provide comment in response to Loring's concerns. The FBI early this year became the lead law enforcement agency in the case.

"I am asking you to recognize that indigenous women matter, and the way our missing and murdered women cases are handled needs to be corrected," Loring said. "We are going missing, we are being murdered. We are not being taken seriously."

An Associated Press report this year found that Native Americans and Alaska Natives, who comprise less than a percentage point of the population, made up 1.8 percent of ongoing missing cases in the FBI's National Crime Information Center database — a figure the agency's assistant director of criminal investigations cited Wednesday in prepared testimony.

Native women, who represent .4 percent of U.S. residents, accounted for more than 0.7 percent of the missing cases, or 633. Advocates say that figure likely represents an undercount.

In AP interviews earlier this year, multiple families — including HeavyRunner Loring's — described feeling disappointed or dismissed after initially taking the cases of missing female relatives to police on their reservations.

"We all share the same experience when working with law enforcement," Kimberly Loring said.

Patricia Alexander, who co-chairs a taskforce on violence against women for the Tlingit and Haida tribes in Alaska, called on lawmakers to increase funding for crime prevention, victims' services and data collection.

Charles Addington, who is the deputy director of the BIA's Office of Justice Services, acknowledged before the committee that more coordination among law enforcement agencies is needed early in police investigations to solve missing persons' cases.

He outlined a series of measures his agency has taken amid mounting concerns about missing women, starting with adding human trafficking courses for officers at the BIA-Indian Police Academy in Artesia, New Mexico.

Addington's comments came amid pointed questions from lawmakers over his agencies' handling of investigations.

"Where's the problem? Is it with the BIA? Is it with the FBI? Is it with tribal law enforcement?" asked Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat from Montana. "Something is not happening that needs to be happening."

Associated Press national writer Sharon Cohen in Chicago contributed to this report.

Read AP's full coverage on missing Native American women: https://apnews.com/tag/MissingInIndianCountry .

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration has told key lawmakers it would send more than $1 billion in additional arms and ammunition to Israel, three congressional aides said Tuesday. But it was not immediately known how soon the weapons would be delivered.

It's the first arms shipment to Israel to be revealed since the administration put another arms transfer, consisting of 3,500 bombs of up to 2,000 pounds each, on hold this month. The Biden administration, citing concern for civilian casualties in Gaza, has said it paused that bomb transfer to keep Israel from using those particular munitions in its offensive in the crowded southern Gaza city of Rafah.

The package disclosed Tuesday includes about $700 million for tank ammunition, $500 million in tactical vehicles and $60 million in mortar rounds, the congressional aides said. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an arms transfer that has not yet been made public.

There was no immediate indication when the arms would be sent. Two congressional aides said the shipment is not part of the long-delayed foreign aid package that Congress passed and President Joe Biden signed last month. It wasn’t known if the shipment was the latest tranche from an existing arms sale or something new.

The Biden administration has come under criticism from both sides of the political spectrum over its military support for Israel's now seven-month-old war against Hamas in Gaza — at a time when Biden is battling for reelection against former President Donald Trump.

Some of Biden's fellow Democrats have pushed him to limit transfers of offensive weapons to Israel to pressure the U.S. ally to do more to protect Palestinian civilians. Protests on college campuses around the U.S. have driven home the message this spring.

Republican lawmakers have seized on the administration's pause on the bomb transfers, saying any lessening of U.S. support for Israel — its closest ally in the Middle East — weakens that country as it fights Hamas and other Iran-backed groups. In the House, they are planning to advance a bill this week to mandate the delivery of offensive weaponry for Israel.

Despite the onetime suspension of a bomb shipment, Biden and administration officials have made clear they will continue other weapons deliveries and overall military support to Israel, which is the largest recipient of U.S. military aid.

Biden will see to it that “Israel has all of the military means it needs to defend itself against all of its enemies, including Hamas,” national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters Monday. “For him, this is very straightforward: He’s going to continue to provide Israel with all of capabilities it needs, but he does not want certain categories of American weapons used in a particular type of operation in a particular place. And again, he has been clear and consistent with that.”

The Wall Street Journal first reported the plans for the $1 billion weapons package to Israel.

In response to House Republicans' plan to move forward with a bill to mandate the delivery of offensive weapons for Israel, the White House said Tuesday that Biden would veto the bill if it were to pass Congress.

The bill has practically no chance in the Democratic-controlled Senate. But House Democrats are somewhat divided on the issue, and roughly two dozen have signed onto a letter to the Biden administration saying they were “deeply concerned about the message” sent by pausing the bomb shipment.

One of the letter’s signers, New York Rep. Ritchie Torres, said he would likely vote for the bill, despite the White House’s opposition.

“I have a general rule of supporting pro-Israel legislation unless it includes a poison pill — like cuts to domestic policy,” he said.

In addition to the written veto threat, the White House has been in touch with various lawmakers and congressional aides about the legislation, according to an administration official.

“We strongly, strongly oppose attempts to constrain the President’s ability to deploy U.S. security assistance consistent with U.S. foreign policy and national security objectives,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said this week, adding that the administration plans to spend “every last cent” appropriated by Congress in the national security supplemental package that was signed into law by Biden last month.

Associated Press writers Stephen Groves, Lisa Mascaro and Aamer Madhani contributed.

President Joe Biden arrives to speak in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, May 14, 2024, announcing plans to impose major new tariffs on electric vehicles, semiconductors, solar equipment and medical supplies imported from China. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Joe Biden speaks at the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies' 30th annual gala, Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)