The Violence Against Women Act Was Stalled In Congress. Rep. Deb Haaland Isn't Letting That Stop Her

Representative Debra Haaland doesn’t think the Violence Against Ladies Act (VAWA) protects those who need it most — although she still has hope.


This past April, the Residence of Representatives voted to reauthorize the Act, which expired in February. Rep. Haaland, a Democrat from New Mexico’s first congressional district, added two amendments to the bill, both of which would directly support Native girls who live both on and off tribal land. One amendment extends support and resources to Native girls who stay in urban areas, while the other aims to strengthen data-sharing and communication between law-enforcement firms, so that tribal corporations can better support their own without being hamstrung by federal government jurisdictions.


Any time it was first introduced in 1994, VAWA didn’t imagine violence against women from a cultural or racial lens; that was later rectified as soon as the bill was reauthorized in 2005, and further addressed when the 2013 bill redirected “culturally specific services” to better serve specific minority groups, including Native women.


They’re a crowd that desperately need support: Eighty-four percent of Native girls have been subjected to violence in their lifetime, the National Institute of Justice reported, and, as Rep. Haaland pointed out to MTV News, females in some tribal communities are 10 times more likely to be murdered than the national average, according to a report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice in 2008.


And the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women is made all of the more urgent given that experts believe the numbers they do have undercounts the assortment of victims: According to the National Crime Statistics Center, over 5,700 American Indian and Alaska Native females and females were announced as missing in 2016, however only 116 of these cases were logged. This inaction can be due to several reasons, including jurisdictional hurdles by different federal organizations and what victims' families feel is a lack of prioritization or care for their loved ones.


Although while Haaland’s amendments would help close some of VAWA’s gaps in support for Native females, the bill is now stalled at the Senate level, and senators on all sides of the aisle blame one other for its delay. Rather than idly waiting for her Congressional colleagues to do the jobs they were elected to do, although, Haaland is applying this time to remind the nation what is at stake for Native women.


On September 11, the congresswoman, who is Pueblo, joined tribal leaders, the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center, and the National Congress of American Indians to commemorate the 25th anniversary of VAWA’s first passage. Shortly right after, Haaland talked with MTV News about the need to uplift Native ladies, the frustrations of VAWA not nevertheless reaching the Senate floor, and how she still feels hopeful that the tides are finally turning for Native ladies and other survivors who speak up.


MTV News: Why was it crucial for you to highlight tribal leaders and Indigenous voices on the 25th anniversary of VAWA?


Rep. Debra Haaland: The Violence Against Girls Act did not have specific provisions for Indian nation up until 2013, which is really sad. It’s Native ladies who are the most weak. Native females are 10 times more likely [to be the victims of sexual violence] than any other categorize of girls in this nation. And violence against native females is tied to the missing and murdered Indigenous girls provide as well — we're at a high risk of being stolen, killed, assaulted, you name it. We have higher incidence of that across the nation. And thus for us to have these provisions in the Violence Against Girls Act, it meant a tremendous amount.


MTV News: Right now the bill is almost being stalled by the Senate, who haven’t brought it to vote. How does it feel to be a segment of this Residence of Representatives attempting to push legislation through, only for the conversation to slow in other areas of government? 


Rep. Haaland: The way I look at this is that the Residence is doing what we were sent to Congress to do. This was a three-branch system of government in our nation and Mitch McConnell has turned it into a two-branch system. He doesn't put anything out that he says the president doesn't support. And that's not the way it works.


The way it functions is that we pass the legislation and the president signs off on it. If the president doesn't hope to sign off, then it's on him. And now, ... If this bill went to the Senate floor it would pass because I believe there really are a lot of senators in our United States Senate who desire to be able to see girls safer. They hope to prepare ensure that girls are safer, that they are protected.


Because of Mitch McConnell, because of his horrible [habit of] putting politics ahead of the American people, it hasn't gotten to the floor. It's very frustrating to all of us. He himself got on TV and called himself the Grim Reaper, killing all of the legislation that comes from the Residence. I just think it's a pathetic way for him to run the Senate. I think he should put the American people first, ahead of his own political future.


MTV News: To circle back to the ways in which the Violence Against Girls Act largely failed Native females for years, as soon as were you first made aware about the ways in which the act didn’t go far enough, or otherwise failed Indigenous women?


Rep. Haaland: I'll be trustworthy with you: As soon as I was working on campaigns, I was working so hard to create ensure that I was electing candidates who I felt were good for Indian nation and good for New Mexico, however I wasn't necessarily steeped in all the policies and the laws. I'm an organizer. Yet I was made well aware of the push for this VAWA in 2012 because there were a lot of Native girls out there advocating very heavily for this bill to pass. It’s just so important.


MTV News: What can you tell us about the ways in which you would like to be able to see the act change the conversation about violence against ladies, and against Native females specifically? 


Rep. Haaland: I think the main thing with this bill is the fact that Indian tribes need have the ability to prosecute sexual and violent offenders who assault females on Indian land. The fact that tribes were unable to prosecute people who were not tribal members in their tribal court has been a terrible thing because in Indian nation, tribal courts can prosecute a misdemeanor nevertheless they can't prosecute felonies. There's top list of crimes that tribal courts can't prosecute, and attempting to get the FBI to come into Indian nation to investigate an offense is difficult.


There's insufficient law enforcement to go around to protect females in Indian nation. There's also several rural communities. If I were standing in the middle of the Navajo country now and attempted to call for police because I was in fear of getting assaulted, I probably wouldn't have the ability to get cell phone service out there. There really are challenges in seeing justice in Indian nation and thus several areas of our nation. So if tribes have the possibility to prosecute those crimes, that would mean the world to Native girls across the country.


MTV News: That also ties into the Savannah's Act, which has also been roadblocked by Representative Bob Goodlatte.


Rep. Haaland: Savannah's Act is about information sharing. All of the law enforcement organizations need have the ability to contact each other. We need have the ability to share statistics, and the jurisdictional issues are the things that stop us up. Because of certain Supreme Court cases a while back, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that tribes can't prosecute non-member or non-Native people.


At the Senate Indian Affairs Committee Hearing on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women last December, one of the witnesses discussed about seeing her sister's sweater on the side of the road and alerting police and then going back three days later and the sweater's still there. Savannah Greywind, who was killed and her body thrown in a river and her baby replace of her  — nobody heard about it for a week. There's so much that we need to make sure that tribal police have the resources and the training they require, that the FBI is caring about these crimes, that we can share enough information. Those are all issues that are important.


I also hope to create ensure that people also know that Native girls in urban areas are also being assaulted at higher rates. So one of my amendments in VAWA would give them the resources they require, and victim support in state courts that they could use to help their cases as well.


MTV News: The information about the violence against Native females are just horrifying, yet it may still feel like the epidemic is held to smaller groups rather than a national conversation. From your vantage point, is progress being made, and are people picking up on just how severe this is?


Rep. Haaland: I think that sort in attempt to make sure that the public cares about an allocate, the more we need to get it out there because if people don't know to care about this supply, they're not going to care about it. If there's more headlines on these issues, if there's more people writing about it, then there really are more people who are apt to also care about it. So it's the kind of thing that you have to get in front of people in categorize for them to pick up on how crucial this supply is.


MTV News: How do you know young people have contributed to the fight for visibility and justice?


Rep. Haaland: More than ever young people are getting involved. Here in New Mexico, the Violence Against Native Ladies groups have hosted a few vigils [for missing and murdered Indigenous women]. And I habitually visualize young people attending those. It just breaks my heart.


My mother was an especially strong Pueblo woman. My grandmother was the same. I had strong females in my life. My aunties who were there for me every step of the way. We're a matrilineal society, as Pueblo females, and there really are a lot of tribes across the nation who are. And once you lose those ladies in your life, who are there to teach you and show you the ways that you can grow into a responsible, culturally cognizant adult, it's so hard. It's a terrible loss to so several families across this nation and something that I'm working very hard to remedy.


MTV News: Where do you visualize the conversation about violence against girls and specifically against Native girls headed, both between tribes and with the federal government and our society at large?


Rep. Haaland: I mean, I'm going to keep talking about the fact that Mitch McConnell isn't doing anything, that he's sitting on the bill and putting his own feelings and thoughts and his own self ahead of the full nation. Up until he puts that to a vote and up until the president signs VAWA reauthorization into law, we're just back where we began from. So these are things, why I'm working exceptionally hard in this election to create ensure that we elect people who actually care about the future of our country.


People can keep putting pressure on the senator, and on the president. Writing letters, showing up at their office, protesting. Just put pressure on him. I also want people to register to vote and vote in this upcoming election. This is the most crucial election of our lifetime and our voice is especially critical in our politics right now.


If we're not protecting our ladies and we're not protecting our females and we're not protecting the most susceptible people in this society, who are we as a nation? So that's where I'm putting the conversation. Mitch McConnell needs to put this bill to a vote and he and the president need to sign it. And unless they do that, to me, they don't care about ladies. They don't care about the safety of ladies. And I think that's a very sad commentary for people who are leading this country.


MTV News: In a lot of ways, it’s past time to have a real reckoning about violence against females, and survivors’ voices feel more amplified than ever. How do you feel about where the conversation is right now?


Rep. Haaland: You know what? I feel hopeful, in a way, that females are speaking out more than they ever have. It's almost like they're putting the future of our nation ahead of their own personalized lives. Females are speaking out. They're talking more about it. And just with this offer with Brett Kavanaugh recently… It's not an easy thing to talk about your personalized life in front of the whole world. Yet it's time for us to have a global where females aren't scared to go to work or to walk down the street. It's time for us to be truly equal.


This interview has been lightly edited for length.