US House passes Amber Alert bill in honor of Native girl found dead
Feb 26, 2018, 4:03 PM | Updated: Feb 27, 2018, 7:27 am
(AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan, File)
(AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan, File)
PHOENIX — The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill on Monday that would allow the Amber Alert system to extend to Native American reservations.
The Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act, otherwise known as H.R. 2666, was introduced by U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) in May of last year.
It quickly gained support by Arizona lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, including Reps. Kyrsten Sinema, Paul Gosar, Tom O’Halleran, Raul Grijalva, Ruben Gallego, David Schweikert, Martha McSally and former Rep. Trent Franks.
Biggs introduced the bill in honor of 11-year-old Ashlynne Mike, who went missing from her school bus stop in 2016 and was found dead the next day. She was killed by a stranger who sexually assaulted her and struck her twice in the head with a crowbar.
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In a statement on Monday, Biggs praised the passage, calling it “gratifying to join my colleagues of both parties as we change policy that saves lives.
“Ms. Pamela Foster, the mother of Ashlynne Mike, has turned the grief she felt at her daughter’s abduction and murder into the hope of making the AMBER Alert program available everywhere in America,” the statement read.
Foster also thanked the lawmakers “who made this bill a reality” in a statement on Monday.
“We now have the opportunity to create plans to protect our children and to prevent other families from experiencing the tragedy of losing a child,” the statement read.
“Now it is up to those of us who live in Native communities to use the resources that the Congress has provided us and to work tirelessly on behalf of our children.”
The Navajo Nation came under fierce criticism or not having an alert system in place when children go missing after Mike, who was Native American, was reported missing.
In December, the tribe signed a contract to purchase the software it needed to get the notification system running.
A similar piece of legislation, the AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act, otherwise known as S.772, was introduced by U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and passed the Senate unanimously in November.
