In their new book, “Hispanic Heresy: What is the Impact of America’s Largest Population of Immigrants?” the three authors work to dispel many of the misunderstandings about how Hispanics in America impact the country’s socio-economics.

The book is by Angel L. Reyes III, a 2008 graduate of the Rawls College of Business Executive MBA program and Dallas-area attorney; Bradley Ewing, the Jerry S. Rawls Professor in Operations Management; and James Wetherbe, Rawls College of Business Stevenson Chair in Information Technology.

Perceptions and Misconceptions

The problems, which are well-publicized, pertain to illegal immigration which can burden the educational, social welfare and medical care systems. Income tax may not be collected and labor abuse may occur.

The opportunity, said Reyes, pertains to the historical value of immigrants and their willingness to take on the entry-level jobs and work their way up to achieve the American dream.

“One of the biggest misconceptions that we try to address in the book is that Hispanic immigration is bad for America,” Reyes said. “On the contrary, Hispanics now represent 42 million people in the United States. That population group represents almost a trillion dollars in economic activity. If demographic models hold, by the year 2050 almost one in four Americans will be of Hispanic origin. What a tremendous opportunity that is the workforce and the face of the future of America.”

The positive growth rates in the Hispanic population are not just a result of immigration, but increasingly the result of a higher birthrate among the Hispanic population – citizen and non-citizen, state the authors.

A Question of Economics

“We’ve used a descriptive approach to looking at Hispanic immigration,” Reyes said, “and in spite of the vitriol that you hear on cable news and talk radio, we came to the conclusion that Hispanic immigration is actually a very positive thing as it affects the American economy and the United States in general.”

Ewing echoed Reyes’ optimistic comments about Hispanics’ future economic impact.

“When a Hispanic consumer spends money, they’re not just limiting money spent to Hispanic owned businesses. That’s part of it, but there are also jobs being created and sustained for all different types of individuals. And I think if we look at the trends in education, in earnings of Hispanics, and in the demographics – age group changes going on – we’re going to see those as important factors of this economy.”

Wetherbe explained that whether immigration is legal or illegal, it’s all about opportunity.

“With illegal immigration the challenge really is about a high disparity between the opportunity of where you’re at and where you’d like to be,” Wetherbe said. “A common find for example, is seven to one; that if it’s seven times better one place than another, people will do whatever it takes, and that’s true of all countries. If you’d gone to the Berlin Wall when it was a barrier between East and West Germany, people would smuggle themselves inside of car engine compartments – they’d risk being shot crossing a border – anything they could do to try to get that better opportunity. The same is true more recently in the United States; people are willing to risk their lives traveling in very perilous circumstances just to get to America.”

Language Double-speak

Another volatile issue Reyes addresses is the question of immigrants learning English. One camp says that immigrants should be given a bilingual education and another camp that’s equally strong says it should be full immersion and that they should learn English.

“Our book comes out in favor of everybody learning English for a lot of reasons,” he said. “But the most important reason is that to really succeed in America, you must learn English. While a first generation immigrant may never master English, a second generation person, after having gone through our public schools or even our private institutions, will know a fair amount of English. By the third generation, you can almost be assured that the Spanish will be what is lost, not the English. We think it is important because, to succeed in this country in a business sense, in a career sense, you must master English. The global commerce language is English, so we think it’s very important for every immigrant to make every effort to learn English.”

Reyes, Ewing and Wetherbe embrace different political points of view from conservative to liberal. All three authors contributed significant content. Reyes provided most of the subject matter and topics to be covered along with content, stories and perspectives from his personal as well as professional experiences. Ewing did the economic and statistical research and analysis and explained the results and how it impacts the Hispanic community in the United States. Wetherbe provided content including stories, examples, metaphors and analogies to help convey the message of the book. He also managed the overall tone, expression, structure and organization of the book.

The redistricting process the county is going through this year won’t answer that question or change anything soon. It’s more a factor of who can build reputation and a power base.

In fact, change is rare on the Board of Supervisors. With no term limits, they tend to stay in office a long time. Bob Buster of Riverside has been there since 1993, John Tavaglione of Riverside since 1995, Marion Ashley of Perris since 2002 and Jeff  Stone of Temecula since 2004.

Roy Wilson represented the Coachella Valley from 1995 until he resigned shortly before his death in 2009, suggesting then-state Sen. John Benoit succeed him. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Benoit, who was challenged only by former Palm Springs police Chief Gary Jeandron. Benoit won.

Because of differing  growth patterns, there will be dramatic changes in the districts. Stone’s 3rd District, which includes Hemet and Temecula, grew fastest at 66 percent, adding 209,091 residents from 2000 to 2010. It needs to lose about 80,000 residents to reach the target of roughly 438,000 for each district. Ashley’s 5th District needs to lose about 7,700 residents.

The big question for the Coachella Valley is how much of Desert Hot Springs can be added to Benoit’s 4th District, which grew the slowest and needs to add about 41,000 residents. The city is now in Ashley’s 5th District.

The draft proposal shifts most of the city into the 5th, but if Desert Hot Springs achieves its goal of annexing west to Highway 62, much of the city will be split between the two districts.

While we appreciate the sense of order in having all nine Coachella Valley cities in one district, The Desert Sun is happy to have two voices on the county board representing the interests of the valley.

We endorsed Benoit  and he’s doing a good job. But the Coachella Valley has some strong Latino representatives such as Assemblyman V. Manuel Pérez and Coachella Mayor Eduardo Garcia. We hope as the elections come along, Latinos will pursue seats at the county’s most important table.

A significant portion of the constituency deserves a voice.