WASHINGTON D.C.—Representative Rick Larsen (D-WA), joined by Representative Ryan Zinke (R-MT.), U.S. Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) and Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) announced a bipartisan Protection for Reservation Occupants Against Trafficking and Evasive Communications Today (PROTECT) Act which aims to combat drug trafficking within tribal communities.
If passed the PROTECT Act would expand Special Tribal Criminal Jurisdiction (STCJ) to allow tribal nations to prosecute non-Native offenders for drug trafficking. It would also allow tribal courts to execute warrants for electronic material to better combat drug traffickers and other criminals.
“The opioid epidemic has devastated Northwest Washington,” said Rep. Larsen. “Tribes in my district have continually told me about the unique challenges their courts and law enforcement face to stop drug trafficking on Tribal land. This bill would give Tribes the tools they need to protect tribal sovereignty, save lives and keep Tribes and communities across Northwest Washington safe,” said Larsen.
Representatives Marie Gluesenkamp-Perez (D-Wash.), Jeff Hurd (R-Colo.), Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), Tom Cole (R-Okla.) and Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) also joined as original cosponsors of the bill.
Back in August of 2024, Rep. Larsen visited the Tulalip Tribes headquarters in Snohomish County to hear testimonies of how Native American tribes’ inability to prosecute non-Native drug traffickers has wreaked havoc on their communities.
Since the landmark 1978 Supreme Court ruling, Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe, tribal courts have been unable to prosecute non-American Indians for most crimes including drug trafficking. In a time when opioid-related deaths are at an all-time-high, this has rendered many tribes helpless to combat the wave of organized crime that has taken advantage of, what Tulalip Tribal leaders consider, a broken law “very much steeped in racism.”
“The cartel, the people that bring the drugs in, they’re not dumb – they understand jurisdictional issues and they fully capitalize on it,” said Tulalip Tribes Vice Chair Misty Napeahi. “I hope this [the PROTECT ACT] gets passed, I hope you stand strong on this. You’re going to be standing up against racism while you’re on the floor. You will feel that institutional racism, but I hope that you guys stand strong and do what’s right for every single citizen across this nation.”
According to the Tulalip Tribes, more than 63 members have died from fentanyl overdoses since 2017.
In 2023 alone, the Lummi Nation had seven fentanyl overdose-related deaths, with five of those occurring in just a two-month span from September to October.
Lummi Nation Chairman Tony Hillaire testified to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in November 2023 that more than 70 Tribal members currently live in squalor with no sanitation facilities at a homeless camp in Bellingham. Therefore, some tribes have declared fentanyl and the opioid crisis a public health emergency.
“The saddest part about it is the children,” said Tulalip Tribes Chair Teri Gobin. “So many children are being left orphans from both of the parents passing away from overdose and we’re having a lot of children being born with [fentanyl] in their system.”
In 2023, the Tulalip Tribes held the National Opioid Summit which addressed the intersection of COVID-19 and the opioid crisis throughout tribal communities. Representative Larsen was a guest at that event and heard the challenges many tribal leaders face. From those conversations, and with other stakeholders in the area, Larsen formulated his report on the opioid epidemic which he released in January of last year.
Along with that report, in addition to the PROTECT Act, Larsen proposed:
• The Workforce Opportunities for Communities in Recovery Act, which would codify, strengthen, and expand pilot grant funding for community partnerships that promote employment for those recovering from substance use, help workers transition to occupations that support those affected by substance use, and provide supportive services to program participants, such as substance use treatment, peer support services, and mentorship opportunities.
• The Closing the Substance Use Care Gap Act, which would expand access to lifesaving, community-based harm reduction initiatives and services and enhance the federal response to the opioid and fentanyl epidemic.
• The End Fentanyl Trafficking with Local Task Forces Act, which would establish a dedicated federal funding stream to help multi-jurisdictional drug task forces combat opioid trafficking in Washington state and across the country.
If passed, the PROTECT Act would provide parity for Tribal courts to issue search warrants for certain electronic communications, including social media, by adding Tribal courts to the list of courts with “competent jurisdiction” under the Stored Communications Act.
The PROTECT Act would also expands Special Tribal Criminal Jurisdiction (STCJ) to crimes associated with drug trafficking, and amends the Bureau of Prison’s (BOP) Tribal Prisoner Program (TPP) by expanding eligibility to offenders who commit drug-trafficking-related offenses.
“The opioid and fentanyl epidemic is harming all citizens in Washington State. Our reservations are no different. Our Tribal lands are being targeted by organized crime because of the jurisdictional complexities and other vulnerabilities. The PROTECT Act of 2025 restores Tribal criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians for drug trafficking within our reservation boundaries, helping protect not only the residents on our reservation, but all Washingtonians,” said Teri Gobin, Chairwoman, Tulalip Tribes.
In the five counties that Rep. Larsen represents, opioid-related deaths have more than doubled since 2019. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tribal communities around the nation had the highest rate of drug deaths in both 2021 and 2022.
Since 2020, more than 650 people in Snohomish County have died of opioid-related overdoses. In 2022, more than seventy-five percent of Washington’s overall drug overdose deaths were linked to opioids. Even though the United States saw a three percent decline in overdose deaths overall during this period, deaths in Washington state increased by more than 21 percent.
Author: Kienan Briscoe
