American Indians and Alaska Natives Count: The US Census Bureau’s Efforts to Enumerate the Native Population

Obtaining a full count of all Native Americans is paramount to securing maximum federal funding to support tribal and state programs that help our children, elders, and community members.

—Alvin Warren, former cabinet secretary, Indian Affairs Department in New Mexico, 2008

Census data are important because they are used to determine how billions of dollars of federal funds are distributed among various programs such as social services, health care, education, and transportation. These data are also used to define school districts, apportion seats in the US House of Representatives, and make decisions about the type of community services that are needed.¹ These decisions have serious implications for Indian Country. For example, based on the growth of the Navajo population as reflected in the 1990, 2000, and 2010 census data, the Navajo Nation filed suit in federal court to force San Juan County to redraw district boundaries in order to provide adequate services and political representation for the nation’s growing population.² Other tribal governments in the Southwest are relying on the 2010 census data to support their lawsuits against state officials on proposed redistricting plans.³

American Indian and Alaska Native (aian) governments recognize the importance of an accurate census count because of the implications for funding and congressional representation. However, achieving an accurate count of the aian population is a long-standing challenge for the US Census Bureau, the federal agency responsible for carrying out the federally mandated decennial census. This is due to a number of factors, including high mobility rates, a transient population, a historical mistrust of the federal government, and various methodological problems such as geographical challenges and language barriers. This article begins to explore some of the changes that the Census Bureau has made to achieve a more accurate count of the aian population. These changes are based on both internal and external methodological and political influences. The article begins with an examination of the historical relationship between the Census Bureau and aian Nations and populations. It also discusses early examples of undercounting among various tribes and initiatives taken by the Census Bureau to improve the count of the aian populations. Recommendations are also discussed.

Background information

American Indians have a unique legal and political relationship with the US government. Based on early Supreme Court decisions, the legal status of American Indian nations is referred to as “domestic dependent nations” within a nation. No other ethnic minority group in the country has this type of relationship with the federal government. The special status is based on legally binding treaty obligations enacted between the federal government and various tribes. Policies that result from the treaties were codified by the first Congress in the Indian Trade and Intercourse Act of 1790. The act prohibited all land transactions with Indian nations or tribes without the participation of the US government. In return for the protection of the United States, the tribes gave up external sovereignty, that is, the right to go to war with or make treaties with foreign powers. The trust relationship encompasses three components: land, tribal self-governance, and social services.⁴

Most specific to the Census Bureau are the issues of land, including taxation. Because Indian land is held in trust by the federal government, it is nontaxable. The decision not to include Indians in the initial census process resulted from their nontaxable status. This is referred to in Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution, which mandates the census process:

Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included within this Union according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons. The exact enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meetings of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct.

As...