TACOMA, Wash. – Native Americans are more likely to be killed by police than any other group of people in the United States. That's according to research reported in the article "The Police Killings No One is Talking About" for "In These Times." Compared with other groups, such as African Americans, police killings of Native Americans got little coverage from mainstream media sources such as The New York Times and Washington Post.

The author of the article Stephanie Woodard, said this is because the media often is far removed from the places where Native Americans live.

"Big media outlets tend to be far from places where reservations are located, so tribes can feel very foreign to editors sitting in a skyscraper somewhere," she explained. "And tribes may also seem long ago and far away, even though they are actually contemporary cultures, albeit with a deep history, and should be part of the American conversation."

A paper presented by Claremont University researchers said 29 Native Americans were killed by police between May 2014 and October 2015. Yet only two of those deaths received coverage. In one case, the victim was mistakenly identified as Latino.

In the article, Woodard cast light on the story of Puyallup tribe member Jacqueline Salyers. In January, Tacoma police officers approached the car where the 32-year-old, pregnant Salyers was sitting with her boyfriend Kenneth Wright, a convicted felon. What happened next is still unclear, but according to the police account Salyers accelerated toward the officers. One officer shot back, killing Salyers. Her boyfriend escaped.

Salyers' uncle James Rideout said he and his family were unhappy with the police investigation that followed, so they formed a community policing group and started supporting Initiative 873 to make police culpable in these situations.

"Apparently, this is the only state in the United States that has malice and good faith in their policing procedures, and with that law, it enables officers to never, ever be charged for any and all actions that occur in any police shooting," he said.

Police officers are concerned they will be punished for doing their jobs if the initiative passes. I-873 needs 250,000 signatures by the end of the year to appear before Washington lawmakers.

Woodard said there are other ways to make sure conflict doesn't escalate so quickly, starting with police training.

"Generally, not rush toward the use of force, and possibly lethal force, but rather slow down and see if there are other options," she added. "That may seem obvious but it is a new aspect of their training."


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President Donald Trump has repeatedly called the arrival of immigrants an invasion and has invoked the Alien Enemies Act to expedite their removal, including 137 people now in an El Salvador prison.

Last week, a federal judge in Colorado disagreed with Trump's interpretation of the 1798 law and granted a temporary restraining order, halting deportations until May 6.

Tim Macdonald, legal director for the ACLU of Colorado, said the statute does not apply to individuals crossing the U.S. border, even if they were members of a gang.

"The Alien Enemies Act, the statute that grants this wartime power, applies only when there is a declared war, or an invasion, or predatory incursion against the United States by a foreign nation or government," Macdonald outlined.

The decision comes on the heels of other federal court rulings ordering the Trump administration to stop Alien Enemies Act deportations, including the U.S. Supreme Court. Trump has criticized the rulings, claiming activist judges are allowing violent criminals to remain in the country.

Nine in 10 of the people now confined in El Salvador had no criminal record and at least one was removed because of an administrative error. The 10th Circuit judge in Colorado also ruled people cannot be removed without 21 days notice.

Macdonald argued all people in the U.S., regardless of their immigration status, have rights, including access to a judge to review the facts of their case.

"We know they're making mistakes, they've acknowledged they are making mistakes," Macdonald pointed out. "They're life-threatening ones when they send people to a foreign prison where they may never see the light of day again."

Trump told reporters in the Oval Office he also intends to send "homegrown" American citizens to the El Salvador facility. Macdonald says if the administration can successfully deprive people of their basic rights, his future use of the power could become a slippery slope.

"When civil rights are threatened, they're threatened for everybody," Macdonald asserted. "Listeners should be concerned that the government is acting in a lawless way to deprive people of their liberty. And the question is, who's next?"


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Five years after George Floyd's murder by a white police officer sparked nationwide protests and demands for police reform, progress remains slow, including in Washington.

State legislators passed a number of police reforms a year after Floyd's death, including banning chokeholds and "no-knock" raids. One law banning police pursuits was later rolled back. Despite the changes, 2024 was one of the deadliest years for police killings in Washington, with almost 50 deaths.

Dom Campese, communications leader for the Washington Coalition for Police Accountability, said at least 10 cases involved police pursuits.

"We need people to step up to the plate. We need legislators to work with us," Campese urged. "We need law enforcement to work with us, and we can enact sensible alternatives to what's currently happening."

Nationwide, police killed more people in 2024 than any year in more than a decade and Black people have died at disproportionate rates. Research shows most killings by police begin with traffic stops, mental health checks and other nonviolent offenses.

The coalition has been pushing the state to create an Office of Independent Prosecutions to handle officer-involved shootings, rather than leaving charging decisions with local prosecutors. Campese argued the current system is flawed because when cases are reopened, they go back to the same prosecutor who made the initial decision. He believes it creates potential conflicts of interest due to prosecutors' close ties with police.

"We would like to see officers held accountable when they break the law, and when someone ends up dying at their hand," Campese stressed.

The Washington Legislature has approved a plan to provide $100 million to hire more police officers. The bill would also allow local governments to increase the sales tax without voter approval to pay for criminal justice expenses.


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January is National Human Trafficking Prevention Month and educators are training workers in key industries to recognize and report the crime, including energy workers in places like Montana.

Human trafficking is the use of force, fraud or coercion to exploit people for sex or labor.

Lindsey Mattson, director of industry engagement for the group TAT, formerly known as Truckers Against Trafficking, said the industry makes big illicit profits globally, second only to the drug trade.

TAT now trains groups across the transportation sector that are likely to intersect with traffickers including energy workers and people working at truck stops and dealerships.

"We can mobilize millions of people to move from passive bystanders to active disrupters," Mattson explained. "That is really our goal, is to train as many people as possible throughout all transportation industries to truly have an impact on fighting this crime."

Gov. Greg Gianforte and Attorney General Austin Knudsen have prioritized addressing human trafficking in Montana. A 2023 law increased penalties for both traffickers and patrons. The state's Department of Justice worked nearly 130 cases related to trafficking in 2024.

Mattson stressed energy workers are vital eyes and ears on the ground, because they may use the same gas stations and hotels as traffickers. The workers themselves are targeted because they are often stationed in one place.

"They look for concentrations of men housed away from home with purchasing power," Mattson noted. "For the energy industry, something like a work camp or project location."

TAT has trained nearly 2 million professionals to identify and report the crime, including 50,000 energy workers in 43 companies.


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