Cantwell: “Make No Mistake About It – The Fentanyl Crisis is a Flood of Poison Entering Indian Country”

In Senate hearing, Eastern WA U.S. Attorney & BIA leader from Makah Tribe highlight need for more law enforcement & better data; Cantwell bill would boost hiring, retention, & resources for tribal law enforcement agencies

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) shined a light on the scarcity of tribal law enforcement officers and called for more federal assistance during a Senate Committee on Indian Affairs oversight hearing entitled, “Fentanyl in Native Communities: Examining the Federal Response to the Growing Crisis.”

Vanessa Waldref, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, and Glen Melville, Deputy Bureau Director at the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Office of Justice Services and member of the Makah Tribe, were among the witnesses.

“Make no mistake about it - the fentanyl crisis is a flood of poison entering Indian Country and communities, and it is not a crisis that our Tribes can face alone. We've heard [from] tribal leaders and their law enforcement agencies how they're chronically understaffed and under-resourced. And in Eastern Washington, just a handful of officers are responsible for patrolling thousands of square miles of tribal land,” Sen. Cantwell said. “They can't shoulder that burden alone.”

“There is a well-known fact in the Mexican cartels that if you can go onto an Indian reservation and work your way into an Indian reservation, that that’s an area they know they can try to utilize and manipulate,” Deputy Director Melville said. “They figured out that’s a place where they want to try to go and get a foothold. It’s very, very difficult in some of these remote areas for these task forces to be able to operate – because as soon as you drive onto the Makah Indian Reservation, everyone knows you’re there already. There is one way in and one way out.”

“There are challenges in rural communities. And we have that throughout the Eastern District,” U.S. Attorney Waldref said. “There are rural communities that can be areas to hide those drugs. What we do to try and address that, and to effectively prosecute these cases, is having the most effective information sharing that we possibly can.”

In July, Sen. Cantwell introduced the Parity for Tribal Law Enforcement Act, which would help Tribes hire and retain tribal law enforcement officers by raising their retirement, pension, death, and injury benefits to be on par with those of federal law enforcement officers.

During the hearing, Sen. Cantwell also advocated for better data on fentanyl overdoses across Tribes.

“Another persistent issue is the lack of strong and consistent data on fentanyl overdoses across Indian Country,” Sen. Cantwell said. “This poses a huge hurdle for effectively directing federal resources -- not to mention law enforcement and health care professionals -- if we don't know how to accurately describe the crisis.”

Video of Sen. Cantwell’s opening remarks is available HERE and audio is HERE; video of the Q&A portion with Deputy Director Melville and U.S. Attorney Waldref is HERE and audio is HERE. Photos of the hearing are HERE; a transcript is HERE.

Today marked the second Indian Affairs Committee hearing focused on fentanyl held in the last month. In October, Sen. Cantwell -- a former chair and long-time member of the committee -- sent a letter requesting a hearing on how the national fentanyl crisis has been particularly devastating in Indian Country. On November 9, the committee held the first hearing featuring Native leaders testifying firsthand about the fentanyl crisis in their communities.

In addition to her work on the Indian Affairs Committee, Sen. Cantwell has been a leader on fentanyl issues, using every tool at her disposal to tackle this multifaceted crisis. She:

• Embarked on a nine-stop listening tour across Washington state to hear from communities on the front lines of this crisis;
• Used her role as chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation to convene a bipartisan briefing on the role of commerce and transportation in the fentanyl crisis;
• Attended and spoke at the National Tribal Opioid Summit, a gathering of approximately 900 tribal leaders, health care workers, and first responders from across the country; and
• Cosponsored vital legislation like the FEND Off Fentanyl Act, which would disrupt opioid supply chains, and the TRANQ Research Act, which would help combat the rise of xylazine.  This week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the TRANQ Research Act, which the Senate previously passed, and the bill now heads to the White House, where it awaits President Joe Biden’s signature.

More details about Sen. Cantwell’s ongoing work on the fentanyl crisis can be found HERE.

American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians are on the front lines of the fentanyl epidemic. In 2022, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that American Indians and Alaska Natives had the highest drug overdose rates in both 2020 and 2021. The fentanyl crisis has been rapid and devastating for Native communities in Washington state, according to these alarming Washington State Department of Health statistics:

American Indian / Alaska Native Synthetic Opioid Overdose Deaths

SOURCE: Washington State Department of Health

Age Adjusted Rate of Synthetic Opioid Overdose Deaths per 100,000 by Race and Ethnicity, 2022

SOURCE: Washington State Department of Health

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