Former President Nez warns Trump census proposal could weaken Native representation
WINDOW ROCK
Former President Jonathan Nez says the Navajo Nation should oppose a Trump administration proposal to remove race and ethnicity questions from the 2030 census.
“This is a big issue that the biggest tribe in the country should weigh in on,” Nez, the Democratic candidate for Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District, said in a phone interview. “It threatens Native American political representation at state and federal levels.”
The U.S. Census Bureau published the proposed rule in the Federal Register Sept. 10. It would bar questions about race, ethnicity and sexual orientation from census forms and exclude most noncitizens from the count used to allocate U.S. House seats among states.
As of Wednesday, the federal docket listed more than 88,000 public comments. None from the Nation’s Executive or Legislative branches could be found.
Comments are due by 11:59 p.m. Eastern time Nov. 2 at regulations.gov under docket USBC-2026-0628. The bureau must review and respond to them before finalizing the rule.
To read the full article, please see the Oct. 22, 2026, edition of the Navajo Times.
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