From right, Rep. Michelle Paulene Abeyta, D-To’hajiilee, and Sen. Angel Charley, D-Acoma, prepare Senate Bill 41, which would create an alert system for missing Indigenous people, on Feb. 7, 2025. (Photo by Bella Davis/New Mexico In Depth)
Two state lawmakers are trying to create a “Turquoise Alert” system in New Mexico for sending out statewide alerts when Indigenous people go missing.
Sen. Angel Charley (Laguna Pueblo/Zuni Pueblo/Diné), D-Acoma, and Rep. Michelle Paulene Abeyta (Diné), D-To’hajiilee, are sponsoring Senate Bill 41.
“I’ve done this advocacy for years,” said Charley, who is a former executive director of the Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women. “So to be on this side and get to implement what we know families have been asking for and what will work, it’s just the most powerful thing that I could imagine in my journey of this work.”
There are 198 Native Americans missing from New Mexico and the Navajo Nation, according to an FBI list.
“In New Mexico on any given day, we know that there are hundreds of missing Native Americans. We also know that the first 48 hours are crucial to finding someone,” New Mexico Indian Affairs Secretary Josett Monette (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians) told a crowd gathered at the Roundhouse on Friday for American Indian Day.
The alert system would “ensure that those critical hours are not missed,” Monette said, adding it should function similarly to other missing persons advisories, like Amber Alerts.
If passed by the Legislature, the bill, which does not include an appropriation, would amend the state Missing Persons Information and Reporting Act to include a Turquoise Alert. The Department of Public Safety would be tasked with developing a plan for getting the alerts out to law enforcement agencies and the public as quickly as possible.
At least three other states — Colorado, Washington and California — have passed similar legislation in recent years.
Since lawmakers in Washington mandated a system in 2022, the State Patrol had issued 114 alerts as of August last year, and the subjects of 111 of those alerts were located, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.