SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — The Federal Bureau of Investigation has established a minimum reward of $25,000 in cases where people went missing or were killed in Indian Country, part of a broader effort to address high rates of violence affecting Native American communities.
The new minimum applies to more than 50 unsolved homicides and missing-person cases in tribal communities. Most of the cases are less than 10 years old, though a dozen have been unsolved for more than two decades, an AP analysis found.
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FILE - Dennis Willard, of Bellevue, Wash., carries a sign that reads "Where Is She" as he marches in support of missing and murdered indigenous women during a rally to mark Indigenous Peoples' Day in downtown Seattle, on Oct. 14, 2019. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
Patrick Carlow, Sr. leading a horse on Pine Ridge Reservation, S.D. on June 11, 2022. (Rhonda Akers via AP)
Patrick Carlow, Sr. with his daughter Lisa Carlow on August 31, 2022 outside a restaurant in Rapid City, S.D. (Lisa Carlow via AP)
FILE - Tize W. Clark, right and his son, Zion Clark, participate in a walk to honor Native American and Indigenous relatives who have gone missing or have been killed as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day is marked in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on May 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan,File)
Victims’ families and experts are unsure the higher amounts will be enough to get tipsters to come forward, citing people's fears and distrust of the federal government.
“Everybody’s scared in Oglala,” said Lisa Carlow, whose father Patrick Carlow Sr. was found dead in his Pine Ridge Reservation home in 2023. “So to me it’s like, okay, what do you guys know that you’re not saying?”
The FBI investigates federal crimes on nearly 200 Native American reservations, along with the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. At the end of 2025, the FBI’s National Crime Information Center recorded just under 1,500 active cases involving missing Native Americans, though not all become federal cases.
The FBI cited several cases in its recent announcement, including that of 8-year-old Maleeka Boone, who it said was likely struck by a vehicle on the Navajo Nation, and San Carlos Apache teenager Emily Pike, whose body was found after she disappeared from an Arizona group home.
Mary Kathryn Nagle, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and an attorney who advocates for families of missing Native Americans, said federal investigators often “parachute in” to investigate crimes in tight-knit communities where witnesses may stay silent because of distrust and fear of retribution.
Still, she said, larger rewards could provide an incentive for people to talk, and show families their loved ones’ cases are being taken seriously.
“We have people in Indian Country who know what happened to our relatives,” she said.
Luana Ross, who is Bitterroot Salish and a co-director of the Native Voices program at the University of Washington, said cash rewards could boost interest but often aren't paid out.
“It is my opinion that in reservation communities, people would be extremely reluctant to turn a friend or relative into a criminal justice system that hasn’t served them well,” she said.
Lisa Foster's longtime friend Mona Renee Vallo was found dead after a suspected hit-and-run along historic Route 66 in Laguna Pueblo, New Mexico, in 2022. Foster hopes the higher reward money will renew interest in the investigation.
Foster described Vallo as a positive, bubbly friend who could have fun no matter what. She was a member of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation.
“Someone knows something there,” Foster said. “They have to. I mean, it's weird that she went to work and then all of a sudden this happened to her.”
The reward in Carlow's case was increased to $25,000 in July, up from $10,000.
Carlow's family says the 73-year-old rancher was respected in the Oglala community. He mowed the grass for others and spent time with his grandchildren. The family said more calls started coming in after the reward was increased, but the wait for answers continues.
Meanwhile, the FBI declined to provide The Associated Press an update on the case.
“It’s so hard to get your hopes up like that and think, ‘This is it, we finally got dad’s killer.’ And then nothing comes of it,” Lisa Carlow said.
She said fear keeps community members who may have information from contacting authorities.
“I think that’s like deep-rooted within our people,” said her sister, JoDee Carlow. “It's not just on Pine Ridge. It's on every reservation.”
The FBI initially offered $5,000 for information in the deaths of two brothers from Ohio, Matthew and Philip Reagan. The reward was later doubled and now will hit $25,000. Though not Native Americans, they were killed on the Navajo Nation and are featured on the FBI’s Indian Country cases website.
The brothers planned to visit Canyon de Chelly National Monument during a trip to California. Authorities believe their SUV got stuck in mud after GPS sent them off course near Sawmill. They were shot multiple times while walking to seek help, authorities said.
Matthew Reagan’s wife, Faye Wurstner-Reagan, said she doubts a $25,000 reward will persuade anyone in the small community to come forward.
“You would have to promise someone, like, actual protection.” she said. “I mean, they brutally murdered two men.”
She suggested the FBI instead put resources toward law enforcement to keep the cases from going cold and for liaisons to keep families informed.
FBI spokesperson Brooke Brennan in Phoenix said investigating crimes in Indian Country often is complex because of the remoteness, limited resources and extensive workload.
Wurstner-Reagan hopes that families united in pain and grief over missing loved ones and unsolved killings might one day see justice.
“We're just getting forgotten, like no one is remembering any of us, and we're just told it's an active investigation,” she said.
Associated Press writers Felicia Fonseca in Flagstaff, Arizona, and Savannah Peters in Albuquerque, New Mexico, contributed to this report.
FILE - Dennis Willard, of Bellevue, Wash., carries a sign that reads "Where Is She" as he marches in support of missing and murdered indigenous women during a rally to mark Indigenous Peoples' Day in downtown Seattle, on Oct. 14, 2019. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
Patrick Carlow, Sr. leading a horse on Pine Ridge Reservation, S.D. on June 11, 2022. (Rhonda Akers via AP)
Patrick Carlow, Sr. with his daughter Lisa Carlow on August 31, 2022 outside a restaurant in Rapid City, S.D. (Lisa Carlow via AP)
FILE - Tize W. Clark, right and his son, Zion Clark, participate in a walk to honor Native American and Indigenous relatives who have gone missing or have been killed as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day is marked in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on May 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan,File)
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — President Donald Trump’s trade war with Canada is escalating as the midterm elections approach, threatening Republican efforts to address voters' economic concerns in a year when control of the U.S. Senate hinges on states along the border between the United States and its northern neighbor.
The dispute flared over the weekend after negotiations broke down, leading Trump to raise tariffs on $20 billion in Canadian imports. Canada plans to announce tariffs of its own on Tuesday, and the spiraling conflict could lead to higher prices and scrambled supply chains for Americans already aggravated at the president’s management of the economy.
Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, one of Democrats' top targets this year, warned that fallout from Trump's approach would hurt U.S. businesses and consumers.
“Imposing new tariffs on Canada is a mistake,” Collins said while campaigning Monday, and she mentioned lobsters, blueberries, lumber and other Maine products that end up in Canadian markets.
The issue also puts pressure on Republicans in Michigan, Ohio and Alaska, states where Canada is an important trading partner. Many Democrats seem eager to capitalize on the matter as they try to regain the Senate majority, despite the party's own history with protectionist sentiments.
“Trump is escalating a trade war with Canada for his own vanity,” Michigan's Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed said on social media, adding that his Republican opponent, former Rep. Mike Rogers, is a “rubber stamp” for such policies. A third of the state's exports go north of the border.
Marc Short, a top adviser to then-Vice President Mike Pence during the first Trump presidency, said the issue is a political trap for Republicans.
“It’s hard, obviously, because you don’t want to incur the wrath of the president," he said. “But at the same time, I think if you’re representing agricultural states, especially, your voters are probably anxious to have somebody representing their interests in Washington right now.”
It's possible that Trump will change course or delay his plans. But for now, the president is making no apologies for the economic turmoil.
“Canada has been ripping off the United States for years,” Trump blasted on his Truth Social platform Monday, adding that he will raise tariffs on all Canadian automobiles and auto parts and steel to 50% in 2027. He added, “WE DON’T NEED CANADA, THEY NEED US!”
Trump's top trade official more calmly downplayed the dispute. “This is something where we don’t actually expect a huge impact,” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told reporters outside the West Wing.
Vice President JD Vance visited Maine on Monday, where he praised “our very independent friend Susan Collins” and assured voters “we’re very mindful of the fact that Maine is a border state with Canada.” He said the administration is trying to make sure Maine “gets a fair deal.”
Collins did not appear with Vance on Monday or during his last trip to Maine. She campaigned on her own as she tries to hold off a challenge from Democratic nominee Troy Jackson, a former state legislative leader.
Jackson, a logger before going into politics, said tariffs are another example of how Collins does not do enough to stand up to the president.
“Troy spent most of his life working along the Canadian border, so he knows how important this relationship is to Maine’s economy,” Jackson spokesman Dan Gottlieb said.
Trump made no secret of his affection for tariffs during his comeback campaign, promising that higher taxes on imports would generate a windfall for the U.S. Treasury and boost domestic manufacturing. But concerns about inflation and affordability have not receded, including in states with key races this year.
Maine, Ohio, Michigan and Alaska boast industries including fisheries, auto parts, lumber and produce that export items across the northern border, while Canadian imports are sold by a range of U.S. retailers.
Iowa, which also has a competitive Senate race, does not border Canada or its waters, but also exports more goods to Canada than any other nation.
Majority Forward, a political action committee tied to Senate Democrats, already ran television advertisements against Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska during last year's partial government shutdown.
“The tariffs are hitting Alaska the hardest,” the ad said. “Call Dan Sullivan and tell him … stop raising our costs.”
Former Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown is trying to return to Washington by unseating Republican Sen. Jon Husted. Brown has long been a union-friendly protectionist Democrat. But he’s argued against Trump’s approach, saying it’s one thing to get aggressive with an adversarial economic powerhouse like China but another to impose uneven, unpredictable tariffs on neighboring nations.
Husted signed a bipartisan letter earlier this year urging the administration to proceed carefully while renegotiating a trade agreement with Canada and Mexico. But he's also embraced the White House's economic policies, recently appearing with Vance at an Ohio steel plant to praise the administration's economic agenda.
“Today is a new day, it truly is," Husted said. "It’s a new day because of the ‘America First’ agenda.”
Brown has not yet criticized Husted on Canadian tariffs, concentrating instead on the senator's support for data centers and Trump’s war with Iran. But Senate Majority PAC spokeswoman Lauren French said the Canada tariffs fight fits seamlessly into the broader case that Brown and other Democrats are making about Trump and his allies.
“It’s another proof point for the argument that this is a guy who continues to raise your costs for no reason at all,” she said.
Short said Trump's first-term protectionism was easier to defend because it was more focused on China. In the second Trump presidency, Short said, “we’ve so alienated our normal trading partners that part of their retaliation has been not to buy agricultural products,” thus cutting off replacement markets for any lost trade with Beijing.
In Maine, Vance insisted Trump only wants to level the playing field with Canada.
“They don’t expect anybody to fight back,” Vance said. “We’re sick of that.”
He also criticized Canada as treating China more fairly than the U.S. in trade negotiations.
“It’s over,” Vance said. “We expect fairness in our trade policy.”
Collins shared a different goal.
“I really want us to go back to the very friendly, economically beneficial relationship that we have with our Canadian neighbors," she said.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer speaks to reporters outside the White House, Monday, Aug. 24, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, speaks ahead of Vice President JD Vance's speech at the Cleveland Cliffs Middletown Works, Friday, Aug. 21, 2026, in Middletown, Ohio. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)
FILE -Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, responds to reporters at the Capitol in Washington, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
President Donald Trump speaks with Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen after a back to school event in the Rose Garden of the White House, Monday, Aug. 24, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
