Tribal leaders in Montana pleaded with Congress in an immediate way to stop the Mexican drug cartels from imposing severe restrictions on their ability to live on African American reservations.
Fort Belknap Indian Community leader Jeffrey Stiffarm testified that the Sinaloa Cartel operates with almost violence in his area, profiting from the serious understaffing of law enforcement on the 652,000-acre ticket that is patrolled by only nine soldiers.
“We are fighting a losing battle. The organizations are winning, the drug dealers are winning, ” Stiffarm told Congress. We are left to fight this war against them only. ”
Up to tens of thousands of gang employees have allegedly used the secluded lands as havens for the illegal entry of fentanyl pills and other drugs into the United States, according to Stiffarm, according to “NewsNation Prime.”
“They know we’re short-staffed, underfunded, under-trained and outnumbered, ” said Stiffarm, a former law enforcement officer for two years. “They’re feeding on our citizens, our children, our people. They get a foothold in and they’re below. ”
The Fort Belknap head described cartel strategies, including staging false emergencies to divert the insufficient police force and immediately distributing narcotics covertly throughout the reservation.
Cartel operatives deeply ingrained themselves in ethnic communities, which are time from urban centers, contribute to the disaster, which goes beyond drug trafficking. According to Stiffarm, cartel rapes and murders have become painfully commonplace.
According to statistics from the state’s health department, Native Americans die more frequently than other state residents. Following 17 overdoses in just one year, the Blackfeet Nation declared an emergency next year.
According to Stiffarm, governmental agencies like the FBI, Border Patrol, and Bureau of Indian Affairs have failed to act, leaving them paralyzed by legal gaps that gang employees skillfully exploit. The Belknap law enforcement budget has only increased from$ 1 to$ 1. 2 million to$ 1. 3 million since 1997, according to Stiffarm.
“We’re the earliest people of this country, and we’re often overlooked, pushed aside, ” Stiffarm said referring to the international support costs Congress passed Saturday. They send$ 95 billion to kill people abroad, but they are unable to give any shillings to help themselves while their own reservations are being destroyed by organizations. ”
Stiffarm made the charm in hopes of finally getting support for the combat forces he warned are overtaking tribal lands across the northern prairies in the name of retaliation.
“If it ’s at the risk of my own life, then so be it, ” he said. “That’s my task – to defend our people. ”
