 - U.S. Rep Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., took some time during a House Judiciary Committee hearing last week to ask Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel about the recent Safe Trails Task Force operation that took place in Fremont County.){kind=link}
(Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Rep Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., took some time during a House Judiciary Committee hearing last week to ask Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel about the recent Safe Trails Task Force operation that took place in Fremont County.
“At the end of August, the U.S. Attorney and FBI announced that nearly 100 personnel representing members of the Safe Trails Task Force operated near Wyoming’s Wind River Reservation to assist with reducing drug trafficking and illegal guns,” Hageman said during the hearing, addressing Patel. “You have routinely stated that it is your mission to partner with and strengthen local and state law enforcement partners – how does the task force and other FBI efforts bring tribal law enforcement into this process?”
In response to her question, Patel said the FBI has been sending resources to tribal lands throughout the United States – especially those jurisdictions where it’s difficult for local law enforcement agencies to provide “the amount of coverage” required.
“The major problem with tribal lands is the sheer tyranny of geography and the amount (of) land versus the personnel they have,” he said. “So what we’ve done is constantly surge resources to tribal lands across this country on a 30-, 60-, 90-day rotating basis, reporting back to us saying who needs more.”
Those reports indicate that “most of these lands can be assisted by our Counter-UAS program – our drone capabilities,” Patel said.
“And we’re going to do it,” he added, explaining that “the Mexican drug cartels are literally flying overhead, dropping their cargo – their narcotics – onto this land where no one’s looking and then it’s being disseminated to children, to youth, to adults on that land and killing them.”
“We’ve got to stop it before it gets dropped off,” Patel said.
‘Making our communities safe again’
Hageman posted a recording of the above comments on her Facebook page on Monday, writing, “I appreciate Director Patel’s dedication to protecting Wyoming’s Wind River Reservation. The Trump administration is making our communities safe again.”
She had started her line of questioning for Patel last week by referring to “the consequences of the Biden open border” – including the “impact that it continues to have on our tribal communities.”
“The Mexican drug cartels (are) infiltrating our reservations and bringing violence, drugs, murder, trafficking and more,” Hageman said. “What is the Trump FBI doing to counter the drug cartel infiltration and other violent crime targeting our Native American communities?”
The FBI has identified crime on tribal lands as a priority, Patel said, describing himself as “the first FBI director to meet with the staff and tribal leaders here in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere.”
“(I) invited them into my office and headquarters to see them, because I need engagement with tribal leadership, and I need our police and FBI agents to be engaging with tribal leadership – otherwise we’re not going to break through,” he said. “We have 1,900 Indian Country cases open right now. We’ve got 600 indictments this year alone. We cannot forget tribal lands. Every single one of those people lives in the United States of America and it is an absolute priority to protect them and their children just as it is anyone else.”
Before yielding her time back to the committee, Hageman thanked Patel for “the work that you’ve done in this regard,” encouraging him to “let me know if there’s anything else I can do to help you.”
“Safety and security on our reservations and for our tribal members has been … one of my priorities,” she said. “I very much appreciate the work that the FBI has done.”