Native American Communities: Erasure is the Point

The systematic invisibility of Native Americans reveals a pattern of marginalization that spans from colonial treaties to modern immigration enforcement. And the data vacuum itself is the story.

Centuries of broken treaties — Over 400 years of lies and broken treaties.

By Angela Fisher

On October 14, 2025 – Indigenous Peoples Day – President Trump issued a proclamation honoring only Columbus Day, celebrating the explorer who ‘opened the Americas to Western civilization’ while ignoring the Native Americans whose communities were devastated by that arrival. That same day, Native communities across the country gathered to celebrate their first-ever state recognitions of Indigenous Peoples Day, fighting for visibility in the face of continued federal erasure.

What We Know Is Devastating. What We Don’t Know Is Worse.

Native Americans detained by ICE with no tracking system. Homicide as the third leading cause of death for Native women aged 10-24. Nearly half of reservation households without clean water. Life expectancy 8 years shorter than the national average.

But here’s what should terrify us: these numbers are undercounted by as much as 42%.

The data vacuum isn’t a gap in our knowledge. It’s a policy. When the federal government doesn’t track Native American status in ICE detentions, doesn’t classify deaths correctly, doesn’t maintain databases for missing persons, the erasure is the point.

What follows documents what we can measure. The true crisis is almost certainly worse.

The Invisible Crisis

Kerwin-Smith didn’t think it would happen to him.

A Native American firefighter responding to wildfires in Washington State, he was among 44 firefighters detained for three hours by immigration agents conducting a raid at the fire camp. Despite having identification. Despite being a U.S. citizen. Despite being there to fight fires threatening American communities.

He said he felt racially profiled for having dark skin.

In Scottsdale, Arizona, a Navajo woman and seven other Indigenous citizens were lined up behind white vans and questioned for two hours without their cellphones during an ICE raid. They had their tribal IDs. They had their Certificates of Indian Blood.

None of it mattered.

In New Mexico, a Mescalero Apache Tribe member was confronted by ICE agents at a convenience store and asked for ID—first in Spanish, although the member spoke English.

From Phoenix to Seattle, from New York City to the border, Native Americans are being stopped, questioned, detained, and held by immigration enforcement. And here’s the most troubling part: ICE does not publicly report disaggregated data on Native American status in immigration detention and enforcement actions.

There is no official count. No systematic record. No accountability when U.S. citizens are detained for hours based on the color of their skin.

The federal government simply doesn’t measure how many Native Americans are swept up in immigration raids.

A Pattern of Encounters

In late January 2025, the Navajo Nation Office was flooded with calls from tribal members living off-reservation. Many reported being questioned about their identity by ICE officers. The Navajo Division for Children and Family Services received calls from Navajo citizens as far away as New York City and Seattle requesting tribal identification cards.

Navajo President Buu Nygren reported receiving troubling accounts of Navajo citizens experiencing “negative and sometimes traumatizing encounters” with federal agents. Yet when pressed for verification, officials admitted they couldn’t confirm successful detentions.

Because there’s no tracking system.

At least 15 Indigenous people in Arizona and New Mexico reported being stopped at their homes and workplaces, questioned or detained by federal law enforcement. One tribal member in Phoenix was caught in a “wrong place, wrong time” situation during a raid and was questioned while in custody, though eventually released.

The Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation in South Dakota took emergency action, temporarily waiving all fees for issuing or replacing tribal IDs amid members’ concerns about ICE encounters. Tribal identification cards typically cost $17—money that some homeless Navajo citizens don’t have.

But even those with IDs are being detained.

This Isn’t New

In 1794, the Jay Treaty split many tribal communities when it established the U.S.-Canada border, cutting through Native lands. The treaty preserved the right of Native Americans to pass freely across the border by land, inland, or water—a right that exists on paper but is increasingly meaningless when ICE agents don’t recognize tribal sovereignty.

Similarly, in 1854, the United States and Mexico established an international boundary through the Gadsden Purchase that divided tribal lands, particularly impacting the Tohono O’odham Nation. Today, the Tohono O’odham aboriginal land historically extended 175 miles into Mexico. As many as 2,500 of the tribe’s more than 30,000 members still live on the Mexico side of a border that was imposed on them.

The Tohono O’odham tribal government now spends $3 million annually on border security, and the tribal police force spends half its time on border-related issues. U.S. Customs officials have prevented Tohono O’odham from transporting raw materials and goods essential for their spirituality, economy, and traditional culture. Border officials have confiscated cultural and religious items.

For tribes split by borders they never agreed to, current immigration enforcement adds insult to historical injury.

When Murder Becomes Normal

While Native Americans are being detained by ICE with no tracking system, another crisis of invisibility continues: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives (MMIWR). And in 2025, the federal programs designed to address this epidemic are being systematically gutted.

Homicide is the third leading cause of death among Native American women and girls aged 10-24 years, according to 2012-2015 CDC data. For Native women aged 25-34, it ranks fifth.

Not heart disease. Not cancer. Murder.

On some reservations, Native women face murder rates more than ten times the national average.

Yet even basic data collection remains nearly impossible. According to research by the Urban Indian Health Institute, three-quarters of the 506 MMIWG cases they identified did not include tribal affiliation or enrollment information. UIHI researchers identified 153 additional cases that were not in law enforcement records obtained via FOIA requests.

These cases were discovered only using government missing persons databases, media reports, social media and advocacy sites, and contact with families and communities.

Researchers have found that women are often misclassified as Hispanic or Asian or other racial categories on missing-person forms, and that thousands have been left off a federal missing-persons database entirely.

The pattern is identical to ICE detentions: Native Americans disappear from official records. The data erasure itself is the policy.

Operation Spirit Return: Launched While Slashing Staff

The bitter irony is that the Trump administration announced “Operation Spirit Return” in February 2025 as a continuation of “Operation Lady Justice” from Trump’s first term. The program aims to use new technology to identify unknown remains and reunite them with families.

But simultaneously:

On March 9, all employees under the Department of Health and Human Services, including the Indian Health Service, were offered buyouts of up to $25,000
On February 12, the Office of Personnel Management announced plans to fire 2,200 of roughly 15,000 total IHS employees
The Department of the Interior, which houses the Bureau of Indian Affairs, was ordered by President Trump to terminate “countless numbers of employees throughout the nation”
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is targeting 20 BIA offices nationwide for closure—representing one in every four BIA offices

These closures affect offices like the Pawnee Agency in Oklahoma, which serves 7,200 members of four tribes and handles child welfare and real estate services. BIA offices in Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Utah, and Arizona have had their leases terminated, with the Ashland office alone employing more than 40 full-time workers losing its location.

Access to important payment systems has been blocked. Congressionally approved grants have been unilaterally terminated.

During government shutdown periods, the BIA’s MMIW website has displayed shutdown notices stating “Due to the current lapse of federal appropriations” and directing visitors to the Department of Interior shutdown page, rendering resources inaccessible to families searching for missing loved ones.

Think about what this means: Families searching for missing loved ones found only a closed website. Tips that could lead to solving cases went unreported. The small federal infrastructure designed to address this crisis simply… stopped.

The Budget Cuts

The Trump administration’s proposed FY2026 budget would decrease BIA’s funding by 31% compared with FY2025 annual appropriations—about $680 million less. This includes reducing funding for public safety and justice by $84 million, justified as an effort to “reduce redundancies and inefficiencies with other law enforcement agencies.”

This is particularly devastating because Native women die from pregnancy-related causes at twice the rate of white women, and Native infants die in their first year of life at nearly twice the rate of white infants.

Funding for the BIA, IHS, and the Bureau of Indian Education represents less than a quarter of 1% of the federal budget. Yet this tiny fraction is being slashed while Native Americans face the highest rates of poverty, incarceration, and violence in the nation.

What Biden Had Built

The contrast with the previous administration is stark. Biden’s FY2025 budget proposed $4.6 billion for Indian Affairs programs, including $2.9 billion for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. This included a $651.2 million increase for Public Safety and Justice programs—$71.5 million above the FY2024 level.

Biden announced $120 million in new funding to help Tribal communities prepare for climate-related threats, part of a nearly $560 million investment for Tribal climate resilience programs through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act.

On Friday, January 20, 2025, the White House revoked 18 executive actions from the Biden administration, including Executive Order 14112, “Reforming Federal Funding and Support for Tribal Nations to Better Embrace Our Trust Responsibilities and Promote the Next Era of Tribal Self-Determination.”

Biden’s executive order had directed federal agencies to promote compacting, contracting, co-management, and co-stewardship with Tribal Nations to make it easier for Native Americans to access federal funding programs.

That’s gone now.

The IHS “Save” Was Theater

On February 14, 2025, nearly 1,000 Indian Health Service employees were laid off. By early evening the same day, the layoffs were rescinded. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stated: “The Indian Health Service has always been treated as the redheaded stepchild at HHS. My father often complained that IHS was chronically understaffed and underfunded. President Trump wants me to rectify this sad history. IHS will be a priority over the next four years.”

But the rescission was performative. While IHS workers were saved on Day 1, the real story is what’s happening behind the scenes:

The tribal sovereignty executive order was revoked
Trump proposed a 31% budget cut to BIA
25% of BIA offices are still targeted for closure
The government continues to operate under shutdown conditions for Native services
Payment systems remain blocked
Grants remain terminated

The IHS “save” was a feel-good moment designed to distract from the systematic dismantling happening behind the scenes.

The Compound Effect

Before we can even talk about employment rates or economic opportunity, many Native Americans face a daily reality that most Americans cannot fathom: nearly half lack access to clean water in their homes.

On Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, the closest grocery store is 80 miles away. The Navajo Nation, spanning 17 million acres, has only 13 grocery stores.

These aren’t just inconveniences. They’re systemic barriers that consume time, money, and energy that could otherwise go toward education, employment, or caring for family. When you’re spending hours each day just securing water and food, how do you apply for jobs? Attend school? Build a business?

This is the compound effect of marginalization: every barrier multiplies the next.

Food Deserts

Over a quarter of the United States Native American population experiences food insecurity. Food deserts are common among Tribal communities, creating health problems that cannot be addressed due to the lack of access to quality healthcare.

The statistics tell a devastating story:

Only 26% of all Tribal area populations were within walking distance (1 mile or less) of a supermarket, compared to 59% of the U.S. population overall
FDPIR (Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations) participants had to drive an average of 17 minutes each way to reach food stores selling produce
Nearly one-third of FDPIR participants lacked access to a vehicle
On Pine Ridge Reservation, only 4% of the land is conducive to agriculture due to overgrazing of cattle and the federal government’s history of forcing Native Americans onto inhospitable lands

The SNAP participation rate among Native households has remained at 24% for years—nearly double that of the general population.

But here’s the historical context that matters: “Historically, Tribal Nations have developed community ecosystems, and societies and cultivated those institutions with their environments, whether that be on the coasts or the deserts southwest. With the onslaught of settlements and later reservation and federal policies, Tribal Nations were forced into other areas of unfamiliarity through the reservation system. This forced relocation remains an underlying issue as Tribal Nations today are trying to cultivate their lands, learn their environments and adjust to the abrupt transitions. Imagine a thousand-year-old society moved suddenly and now forced to rebuild.”

Water Crisis

An estimated 48% of households on Indian reservations do not have access to reliable water sources, clean drinking water, or adequate sanitation.

Read that again: In 2025, in the United States, nearly half of Native American households lack clean water.

Native American households are more likely to lack piped water services than any other racial group. Tribal households are nearly 20 times more likely than white households to lack indoor plumbing.

For the Santee Sioux in Nebraska, the crisis is acute. The tribe has been under an EPA no-drink order since 2019. For four years, they’ve been unable to afford the necessary infrastructure to fix the problem. Wells providing drinking water to Santee had readings of manganese more than 50 times greater than the value considered safe for adults by April 2020.

Tribal Vice Chairman Kameron Runnels has been working on securing funding from state and federal government since 2019. “Everybody’s sympathetic,” he said. “But no one has offered the assistance or the guidance that we want, that we need. We’re supposed to be the greatest country in the world. Yet, we have a community right here in our state that can’t even drink its own water.”

The tribe is relying on a $100,000 grant from the Bureau of Indian Affairs to buy bottled water for tribal members. That money is expected to run out this winter.

Many residents on the Navajo Nation must regularly haul water—sometimes from unregulated or contaminated sources—in order to drink, bathe, cook, and clean in their own homes. For adults, water hauling comes at the expense of paid work, household chores, childcare, and even leisure. School-age children lose time from school, homework, or play.

Professor Heather Tanana, who researches tribal water issues at the University of California Irvine and leads the Universal Access to Clean Water for Tribal Communities Initiative, has found that around 48% of households on Native American reservations do not have clean water or adequate sanitation. Her research shows that “it’s race, and Native Americans are the least likely to have water access in their homes than anyone else in the U.S.”

Over 400 Years of Broken Promises

The current crises—ICE detentions, MMIW, food deserts, water access—aren’t accidents. They’re the continuation of a pattern that began with European colonization in the 1600s.

In September 1778, representatives of the newly formed Continental Congress signed a treaty with the Lenape (Delaware) at Fort Pitt, Pennsylvania. The first official peace treaty between the new United States and a Native American nation.

Both sides agreed to maintain friendship and support each other against the British. But mutual suspicion continued, especially after Pennsylvania militiamen killed nearly 100 Lenape (most of them women and children) at the village of Gnadenhutten in March 1782, mistakenly believing they were responsible for attacks against white settlers.

This set the pattern: treaty, betrayal, violence, land theft. Repeat.

Over the next 250 years, the U.S. government signed hundreds of treaties with Native nations. And broke nearly all of them.

The Removal Era

In 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act. By the end of his presidency, he had signed into law almost seventy removal treaties, the result of which was to move nearly 50,000 eastern Indians to Indian Territory and open millions of acres of rich land east of the Mississippi to white settlers.

The forced relocation—the Trail of Tears and similar removals—killed thousands. Those who survived were moved to unfamiliar lands, often unsuitable for agriculture, severed from ancestral territories that had sustained their communities for centuries.

The 1851 Treaty of Traverse des Sioux forced the Dakota to cede millions of acres in exchange for reservations and $1,665,000—about 7.5 cents per acre. The Dakota never received either provision. The U.S. government tricked Dakota representatives into signing a third document that reallocated the funds to traders to fulfill invented “debts.” The U.S. Senate further violated the treaty by eliminating the provision for reservations.

Boarding Schools: Cultural Genocide

From 1879 to 1918 (and in some cases continuing into the 1970s), the U.S. government forcibly removed Native American children from their families and sent them to boarding schools designed to “kill the Indian, save the man.”

Children were forbidden to speak their languages, practice their religions, or maintain any connection to their cultures. Physical, sexual, and emotional abuse was rampant. Thousands of children died at these schools; many are buried in unmarked graves.

This wasn’t education. It was cultural genocide.

The trauma of boarding schools reverberates through Native communities today—in addiction rates, in mental health challenges, in severed connections to language and tradition.

The Termination Era

In the 1940s-1960s, the federal government pursued a policy of “termination”—ending the federal government’s recognition of tribal sovereignty and the trust relationship with tribes. Over 100 tribes were terminated, losing their land, their treaty rights, and their federal recognition.

The Menominee in Wisconsin, the Klamath in Oregon, tribes across California and Oklahoma—all had their sovereignty stripped away, their lands sold, their communities scattered.

Though many tribes have since been restored, the damage from termination—lost land, broken communities, severed traditions—can never be fully repaired.

The Numbers Don’t Lie

The historical pattern of broken promises, forced relocations, and cultural genocide has produced predictable results: Native Americans experience poverty, unemployment, incarceration, and health crises at rates that would spark national outrage if they affected any other group.

But because the data itself is often erased—undercounted, misclassified, ignored—the crisis remains invisible to most Americans.

Poverty: Twice the National Rate

Based on 2020-2024 American Community Survey data, American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) households experienced poverty at twice the rate of the typical American household: 20.9% versus 10%.

In South Dakota, about 49% of Native Americans live in poverty—the highest rate in the nation.

Pine Ridge Reservation faces unemployment rates as high as 80% in some areas.

Through years of intentional governmental policies that removed lands and resources, American Indians have been separated from the wealth and assets that were rightfully theirs.

Unemployment: 1.7x the National Average

In 2024, the unemployment rate for non-Hispanic American Indians and Alaska Natives was 7.8% compared to 4.5% for the total U.S. population.

In 1970, the unemployment rate for Native people was 10 times the national average, and 40% of the Native population lived below the poverty line. While there has been some improvement, the gap remains enormous.

Mass Incarceration: The Highest Rate of Any Group

As of 2023, Native people have a prison incarceration rate of 763 per 100,000—more than double the national rate (350 per 100,000) and more than four times higher than white people (181 per 100,000).

The lifetime risk of imprisonment among American Indian or Alaska Native males was nearly 50%, and more than 14% for females.

Native American men are admitted to prison at four times the rate of white men. Native women are admitted at six times the rate of white women.

Despite accounting for 1% of the national youth population, 70% of youth taken into federal prison are Native American.

This isn’t justice. It’s continued oppression using the criminal legal system as a tool.

Health Crisis: 8 Years Shorter Lives

In 2023, the average estimated life expectancy at birth for non-Hispanic American Indians and Alaska Natives was 70.1 years (73.5 for females and 66.7 for males), compared to 78.4 years for all races.

The actual gap in life expectancy between AI/AN and the national average was 6.5 years—2.9 times larger than the number reported in unadjusted official statistics. This gap nearly doubled during the study period, increasing from 4.1 years between 2008-2010 to 8 years between 2017-2019.

Based on linked data, the mortality rate for AI/AN individuals was 42% higher than the national average. By contrast, in official vital statistics, the AI/AN mortality rate was only 5% higher—demonstrating systematic undercounting due to racial misclassification on death records.

Native Americans are dying at rates far higher than official statistics show because even in death, they’re misclassified and erased from the data.

Native women die from pregnancy-related causes at twice the rate of white women. Native infants die in their first year of life at nearly twice the rate of white infants.

The Solutions Exist

The most frustrating part of this story is that solutions exist. They’ve been developed by tribal nations, tested through decades of advocacy, and even partially enacted into law.

Native communities have done the work, developed the frameworks, built the solutions.

What they need is what they’ve always been promised and never received: the federal government keeping its word.

Tribal-Led Solutions

The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), founded in 1944, is the oldest, largest, and most representative American Indian and Alaska Native organization serving tribal governments and communities. Critically important: NCAI is organized as a representative congress where American Indian and Alaska Native governments pass resolutions to become members, selecting official delegates. This means NCAI is directly governed by tribes, not just serving them.

NCAI’s core policy priorities for MMIW include:

Restore tribal authority to prosecute non-Indians who commit crimes on tribal lands
Support the findings in the Not Invisible Act Commission Report and urge the federal government to make them policy
With proper authority and adequate resources, tribes can restore safety in their communities and heal them from the violence, pain, and trauma they have endured over generations

The Native American Rights Fund (NARF), founded in 1970, is governed by a board of directors composed of thirteen Native Americans from tribes throughout the country. NARF has successfully asserted and defended some of the most important rights of Native Americans and tribes in hundreds of major cases in critical areas such as tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, natural resource protection, voting rights, and Indian education.

The National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center (NIWRC) provides national leadership to end violence against Native women by uplifting grassroots advocates and offering training, technical assistance, educational resources, and policy development. The main office is located in Lame Deer, Montana, on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation.

Legislative victories include Savanna’s Act and the Not Invisible Act, signed into law on October 10, 2020. Savanna’s Act aims to improve MMIW data collection and directs the Department of Justice to review, revise, and develop law enforcement and justice protocols. The Not Invisible Act created an advisory committee composed of Tribal leaders, law enforcement, federal partners, service providers, and survivors.

The Core Solution Framework

Based on decades of advocacy by tribal nations and organizations, the solutions are clear:

Data & Tracking:

Mandatory tribal identifiers in all law enforcement databases
Dedicated MMIW databases
Fix misclassification issues
ICE must track Native American status in detention data

Jurisdiction & Authority:

Restore tribal authority to prosecute non-Indians on tribal lands
Close the jurisdictional gaps that let perpetrators escape
Respect tribal sovereignty in law enforcement

Funding:

Fully fund Family Violence Prevention and Services Act
Long-term, sustained funding for tribal law enforcement
Resources equal to “over five hundred years of deficit” (a direct quote from the 2019 National Inquiry into MMIWG report)
Reverse the 31% budget cut to BIA

Community-Led Solutions:

Support tribal governance and self-determination
Fund culturally specific prevention and support services
Invest in community-led initiatives
Restore Biden’s tribal sovereignty executive order

Accountability:

Federal coordination and oversight
Hold governments accountable to treaties and trust responsibilities
Industry accountability for operations near tribal lands

How to Help

A critical note before we begin: Native American communities have a long and painful history of well-intentioned “helpers” causing harm. From forced assimilation in boarding schools to cultural appropriation to paternalistic policies that undermined tribal sovereignty.

When choosing how to help, prioritize organizations that are:

Governed by tribal nations (like NCAI, where tribes are voting members)
Led by Native Americans with tribal oversight (like NARF)
Physically based in Indian Country (like NIWRC on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation)

Follow tribal sovereignty principles by supporting organizations that respect tribal self-determination and avoid organizations that speak “for” Native people without tribal oversight.

When in doubt, contact your local tribal government directly to ask which organizations they trust and support. Tribal nations know best what their communities need.

Organizations to Support

National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) Website | Donate to NCAI Foundation The only philanthropic entity directly accountable to Tribal Nations, channeling resources to support Tribal sovereignty, leadership development, youth mentorship, and economic resilience.

Native American Rights Fund (NARF) Website | Donate Founded in 1970, NARF holds governments accountable and fights to protect Native American rights through litigation, legal advocacy, and expertise. Donate by phone: (303) 447-8760 (Mon-Fri, 8:30am-5:00pm Mountain) or by mail: 250 Arapahoe Ave, Boulder, CO 80302

National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center (NIWRC) Website | Donate NIWRC provides national leadership to end violence against Native women. Charity Navigator gives NIWRC a 92% Four-Star rating. Contact: PO Box 99, Lame Deer, MT 59043-0099 | (406) 477-3896

StrongHearts Native Helpline If you or someone you know are a Native American victim of domestic violence, call StrongHearts at 1-844-762-8483 or chat online at strongheartshelpline.org. It’s a free, culturally-based helpline providing peer support, information, and referrals, available 7am-10pm CT.

Take Action

Contact Your Representatives:

Demand full funding for BIA, IHS, and tribal programs
Support restoration of tribal authority to prosecute non-Indians on tribal lands
Call for comprehensive MMIW data collection with Indigenous identifiers
Oppose the 31% budget cuts proposed in Trump’s FY2026 budget
Demand ICE track Native American status in detention data

Find your legislators: Senate | House

Raise Awareness:

Share Native-led journalism (Native News Online, Indian Country Today)
Participate in the National Week of Action for MMIW (May 5-9 annually)
Use hashtags: #MMIWR #NoMoreStolenSisters #MMIWRActionNow #WhyWeWearRed

Educate Yourself:

Read NARF’s annual reports at narf.org
Follow NCAI’s policy resolutions at ncai.org/resolutions
Access NIWRC’s resource library at niwrc.org

The Bottom Line

America’s treatment of Native Americans is not an accident of history. It’s the predictable result of over 400 years of systematic policy decisions: broken treaties, forced relocations, cultural genocide, resource theft, data erasure, and institutional neglect.

The pattern is clear across every crisis:

ICE Detentions: Native Americans stopped, questioned, detained—with no tracking system to measure the violation of their rights.

MMIW Crisis: Murder is the third leading cause of death for Native women, yet 75% of cases lack tribal affiliation data, and 153 cases exist only in social media and family reports.

Food Deserts: 25%+ food insecurity rate, with reservations like Navajo Nation (17 million acres, 13 grocery stores) and Pine Ridge (nearest store 80 miles away).

Water Crisis: 48% of households lack clean water or adequate sanitation—20 times more likely than white households to lack indoor plumbing.

Economic Devastation: 20.9% poverty rate (2x national average), 7.8% unemployment (1.7x national average), 763 per 100,000 incarceration rate (2.2x national average), 70.1 years life expectancy (8 years less than national average).

Health Crisis: Native women die from pregnancy-related causes at twice the rate of white women. Native infants die in their first year at twice the rate of white infants. Even deaths are undercounted by 42% due to misclassification.

At every stage, the pattern is identical: data erasure, institutional invisibility, systematic marginalization, and broken promises.

We Are a Nation at War With Diversity

Those who welcome it and those who fear and despise it.

The current administration’s actions make clear which side they’re on. While announcing initiatives with names like “Operation Spirit Return,” they’re simultaneously defunding the programs, firing the staff, closing the offices, and revoking the executive orders that make those initiatives possible.

It’s not incompetence. It’s policy.

The solutions exist. Tribal nations have developed them, advocacy organizations have fought for them, some have even been enacted into law. What’s missing is political will and the recognition that Native Americans deserve the same basic rights, the same data tracking, the same institutional support that every other group of American citizens receives.

The question is: How many more centuries of broken promises will it take before America finally keeps its word to its First People?

Methodology Note

This article represents a collaborative research effort between human insight and AI analysis. The pattern recognition, editorial direction, and quality control were provided by human investigation. Data compilation, synthesis, source management, and initial drafting were assisted by AI research capabilities. All claims are sourced from publicly available data from government agencies, tribal organizations, academic institutions, and journalistic investigations. Where data is uncertain or incomplete, we have used qualifying language and temporal markers.

Sources & Full Citations

Tribal Organizations

This article was researched and written in October 2025 for Native American Heritage Month. All data and sources were verified as accurate at time of publication.