For years, violent crimes committed in Indian Country too often disappeared into a maze of jurisdictional confusion, thin resources, and cold case files.
That is beginning to change in a very big way.
The Trump administration’s Justice Department and Kash Patel’s FBI just announced the results of Operation Not Forgotten 2026—and the numbers are staggering:
- 548 investigations supported
- 118 arrests
- 41 people charged federally
- 25 child victims identified or located
- 72 weapons recovered
- 990 interviews and 232 searches conducted
Those are not empty Washington talking points. They represent children found, violent suspects taken off the street, grieving families finally seeing movement, and Tribal communities receiving the federal support they were promised.
According to the Justice Department, the FBI’s six-month surge ran from April 1 through September 30 and produced a 123% increase in arrests over the 2025 operation. Federal charges rose 52%, while the number of investigations worked climbed 59%.
Agents also recovered 72 weapons, conducted 990 interviews, and carried out 232 searches while prioritizing unresolved violence against women and children, including missing and murdered victims. The department says the operation combined temporary-duty personnel with the Bureau’s permanent Indian Country workforce and coordinated them across a dozen field offices in regions carrying thousands of still-open violent-crime investigations nationwide.
Kash Patel summed up the mission in four words: “forgotten no more.”
This was not a desk-job operation.
Operation Not Forgotten surged investigative, intelligence, victim-service, and other personnel into 12 FBI field offices stretching from Albuquerque and Phoenix to Billings, Minneapolis, and Portland.
The agents worked alongside Tribal police, the Bureau of Indian Affairs Missing and Murdered Unit, U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, the ATF, and local law enforcement. That cooperation matters because violent crimes on Tribal land can involve overlapping federal, Tribal, and state jurisdictions—exactly the kind of bureaucratic seam criminals exploit and victims fall through.
The cases advanced during the operation were not minor.
In Wyoming, 18 people were indicted in cases involving alleged murder, assault, and child abuse on the Wind River Indian Reservation. One defendant is accused of shooting a passenger in the head inside a moving vehicle and then turning the gun on two witnesses.
Another Wyoming case involves allegations that a 10-year-old suffered severe physical trauma.
In Minnesota, four defendants were separately charged with violent and sexual offenses, including sexual abuse of minors, assault by strangulation, domestic assault causing substantial bodily injury, and assault with intent to commit kidnapping. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Minnesota said most of those cases grew out of investigations involving the FBI and the Red Lake Police Department.
One of the cases identified by federal prosecutors involves Courtney John Barrett Sr., who was indicted on September 22 on two counts of sexual abuse of a minor. Minnesota officials emphasized that the charges span harm to intimate partners, minors, and other victims—and called the operation a starting point for continued work with Tribal communities, not a one-time sweep that ends when the press release goes out.
In Arizona, federal prosecutors highlighted cases involving alleged aggravated sexual abuse of a child under 12, arson, and violent assaults on the Navajo Nation and Fort Apache Indian Reservation. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Arizona described the operation as a fight for answers, safety, and justice alongside Tribal partners.
These charges remain allegations unless and until guilt is proven in court. But after years of unanswered questions, bringing cases before a grand jury and a judge is real progress.
The larger crackdown is even bigger.
Operation Not Forgotten is one part of the FBI’s broader Operation Steadfast Promise. Since April, that wider effort has opened more than 1,200 new investigations in Indian Country, charged 678 subjects, made more than 700 arrests, recovered 2,260 weapons, and conducted 140 drug seizures.
At the same time, Patel says the Bureau now has 400 agents dedicated to Indian Country, 30 Safe Trails Task Forces, and a new public-facing program called Voices Not Forgotten.
The strategy is straightforward: put more investigators on the ground, strengthen the federal-Tribal partnership, make unsolved cases easier for the public to find, and offer rewards large enough to shake loose information.
In August, the FBI announced a minimum reward of up to $25,000 for every publicly advertised homicide, kidnapping, and missing-person case in Indian Country where the Bureau has jurisdiction. The announcement came during a national conference attended by more than 200 Tribal law-enforcement partners.
The Bureau’s searchable Voices Not Forgotten map spotlights cases that need the public’s help, with posters and case information gathered in one place instead of scattered across jurisdictions. The first group highlighted Angel Beach, Sa’wade Birdinground, Maleeka “Mollie” Boone, Logan Warrior Goings, Mary Johnson Davis, and Emily Pike—real people whose families deserve answers.
The FBI said the program responds directly to requests from Tribal communities and recommendations from the Not Invisible Act Commission.
That is how cold cases get warm again: manpower, partnerships, public attention, and consequences.
Results matter more than rhetoric.
No honest person should pretend the job is finished.
The DOJ says more than 4,000 Indian Country investigations remain open, including death investigations, child-abuse cases, domestic violence, and adult sexual abuse. Every one of those files represents a victim, a family, and a community waiting for an answer.
But the scale of the unfinished work is exactly why these results matter.
Government has spent decades announcing programs with lofty names and little follow-through. Operation Not Forgotten is producing measurable outcomes: arrests, charges, recovered weapons, identified children, renewed investigations, and cases moved toward trial.
That is what federal law enforcement should look like—less political theater, more agents pursuing violent criminals, protecting children, and standing with communities that have been neglected for far too long.
President Trump promised to restore law and order. In forgotten corners of the country, that promise is now showing up as investigators, task forces, arrests, and long-overdue answers.
Twenty-five child victims identified or located.
If that were the only result, this operation would already have been worth it.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.
This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.
The post Kash Patel’s ‘Forgotten No More’ Surge Delivers 118 Arrests—and Helps Identify or Locate 25 Child Victims appeared first on 100PercentFedUp.com.
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