And I think it's important as a priority, and I will be conveying that to whoever becomes the next U.S. attorney.
There is a tremendous need for that.
Obviously, this is an enormous amount of money that should be going back to Indian Country.
The scope of the counterfeiting problem is far larger than expected.
The protection of tribal nations is of the utmost importance to the Department of the Interior.
For centuries, the United States used cultural appropriation as a tool of colonization.
I think we really need to just work together.
Good afternoon Vice Chairman Udall and Senator Heinrich.
Fake art drives down prices, forces Native Americans to quit their crafts and devalues Native American art.
When someone steals and sells a tribe's cultural patrimony, they are stealing that tribe's traditions and identity.
So it was a big problem then. But now I understand that as much as 80 percent of those goods are likely counterfeit and ...
This situation is wholly unacceptable.
Do you think it would be helpful to dedicate resources to improving fraudulent--to looking at the fraudulent online sale...
Do you believe that these fraudulent online sales, are they a significant problem?
I think we still need to move forward.
The case is prioritized. We have had--New Mexico Attorneys' Office has been absolutely top-notch with this.
So that's your best guess at this point.
And my understanding, when you were the U.S. attorney, you initiated efforts with the leaders of the Indian Nations here...
