LOS ANGELES — United American Indian Involvement, Inc. (UAII) today renewed its call to American Indian and Alaska Native relatives, families, and Tribal leaders: if you or someone you love has been recruited, transported, or held by a fraudulent drug and alcohol treatment program, contact us. UAII has previously reported its commitment to addressing the trafficking and bounty hunting of Native people to fill treatment beds — a practice known as body brokering. Recruiters are paid a per-person fee to deliver people into facilities and sober living homes, which then bill Medicaid/Medi-Cal for care that is inadequate, falsified, or never delivered at all. Native people are targeted deliberately because the programs that cover our care can be billed at high daily rates with little oversight. To continue that commitment, UAII is opening a path forward to support for anyone who believes they have been victimized.
What we are seeing
Relatives describe being recruited by members of our Tribal communities, and by non-members, then trafficked hundreds of miles from home, held without a way to leave, and put out on the street once they were no longer worth billing. The Arizona Attorney General’s Office reports approximately $2.8 billion in fraudulent behavioral health billing to that state’s Medicaid program, roughly 140 indictments, about 89 convictions or settlements, and some 200 cases still under investigation;1 42 further indictments followed on June 24, 2026, including charges against an operator alleged to have taken more than $30 million by billing for deceased Tribal members and claiming alcohol dependence for children as young as two.2 Investigative reporting has documented more than 40 deaths of Indigenous residents of Phoenix-area facilities between 2022 and 2024, and confirms that recruitment has not stopped.3 Those cases were prosecuted in Arizona, but the people taken came from across Indian Country, and many were abandoned into urban Indian communities like ours. Los Angeles County is home to the largest urban American Indian population in the United States. Our relatives are among those at risk.
Our obligation under UNDRIP and FPIC
UAII’s response is not discretionary. Body brokering violates the standards set out in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), endorsed by the United States in 2010: the collective right to live in freedom, peace, and security as distinct peoples (Art. 7(2)); the right, without discrimination, to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health (Arts. 21 and 24(2)); the protection of Indigenous women and children against all forms of violence (Art. 22(2)); and our right to administer our own health programs through our own institutions (Art. 23). UNDRIP Article 19 requires free, prior, and informed consent. That standard — FPIC — is usually discussed in relation to land and legislation. It applies with equal force at the door of a treatment facility.
Free — No consent obtained through a bounty, a ride, a bed, or a promise of money, food, or housing.
Prior — Consent before a person is transported or admitted — not signed in a van, or after arrival, hundreds of miles from home.
Informed — The facility’s name and license status, the treatment actually provided, who is billing and for what, and the right to leave at any time.
A program that cannot meet all three has not obtained consent. It has obtained a body.
A path forward
Reporting is the first step, not the last. Whether this happened last week or years ago, and whether you ever pursue a legal case, UAII will meet you where you are.
• We listen, and you set the pace. You decide what is shared and how far it goes.
• Immediate needs first — safety, shelter, food and clothing, replacing identification lost along the way, and a way to reach your family.
• Connection to real care — UAII’s medical, dental, behavioral health, and substance use services, and culturally grounded healing. No one is required to enter treatment to receive help from UAII.
• Getting home, advocacy, and accountability if you choose reunification support worked out with Tribal nations and partners, help understanding what was billed in your name, and connection to legal advocacy.
No one has to prove they were victimized to receive support from UAII. If you believe this happened to you, that is reason enough to reach out.
“Our relatives are being counted as beds — recruited, billed, and discarded. Recovery is sacred work in our communities, and it cannot begin with a lie. If this has happened to you or someone you love, we want to hear from you, and we will walk with you.”
— HOPE CRAIG, BOARD CHAIRWOMAN AND PRESIDENT, UAII
What we ask of Tribal leaders and community
• Share this notice through your Tribal health, behavioral health, and housing programs, and at community gatherings.
• Encourage anyone affected to contact UAII at wecare@uaii.org. A relative, advocate, or Tribal program may report on someone’s behalf.
• Tell us if recruiters are working in your community, or if a citizen of your nation has gone missing after leaving for treatment.
About UAII
Founded in 1974 by Marian Zucco (Paiute) and Babba Cooper (Lakota), United American Indian Involvement, Inc. promotes and supports the physical, behavioral, and spiritual health and well-being of American Indians and Alaska Natives in the urban center, through medical and dental care, behavioral health and substance use services, family and child welfare support, housing, workforce development, and youth and elder programs in Los Angeles, Santa Ana, Palmdale, and Cerritos.
M E D I A C O N T A C T
Vinecea Edwards
United American Indian Involvement, Inc. · media@uaii.org · (213) 700-1933
