Angel Reyes Blog : Angel Reyes : Texas Litigation Lawyer and Attorney : Dangerous Drugs : Wrongful Death : Business Litigation

Below is the June 4, 2009 article I wrote for the Orlando Sentinel in its “Hispanosphere” section on the growing Hispanic population and the plight of Hispanic workers in this country.

Attorney: Why are Hispanics 'last in, first out' of jobs?
Guest Writer: Angel Reyes
Orlando Sentinel
June 4, 2009

Angel Reyes is an attorney, Hispanic immigration expert and author of Hispanic Heresy: What is the Impact of America’s Largest Group of Immigrants? (Mead Publishing, January 2009) He is the founder and managing partner of Heygood, Orr, Reyes, Pearson & Bartolomei law firm in Dallas, Texas. He also blogs at angelreyesblog.com.
 
The Hispanic population in the United States has been growing substantially in recent years, providing businesses with burgeoning workforces. The Census Bureau expects that by 2015, 17% of the American population will be of Hispanic origin. Demographically, no group of Americans is growing faster than Hispanics. Hispanics are now 8% of the workforce and by 2050, that number is expected to reach 25% of the workforce.

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On Saturday, May 30th I was interviewed on the Michael Hart Show on 101.1 FM in Birmingham, AL.  The topic of the interview was how Sonia Sotomayor’s appointment to the Supreme Court could affect issues like immigration in the U.S., and our perceptions of Hispanics in general.  Additionally, we discussed the fact that Obama’s relationship with Hispanics may strengthen the future of the Democratic party.  My own personal experiences, the obstacles I faced as a Hispanic growing up in the U.S., and how I overcame those obstacles were also topics of conversation.  A link to the actual interview will be coming soon.

©2009 Angel Reyes
www.ReyesLaw.com

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The following videos were posted to the Legal Broadcasting Network.  The first two are interviews with my law firm partner, Luis Bartolomei.  Please take a moment to view this important information on current immigration issues:
 
Interviews with Luis Bartolomei: English | Spanish
 
Interview with Kristina Campbell of MALDEF: English

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Below is an op-ed article I wrote on unemployment and Hispanic workers:

Closing the Unemployment Gap: Hispanic Workers Need Help

The Hispanic population in the United States has been growing substantially in recent years, providing businesses with burgeoning workforces - but Hispanic workers in America are in trouble. Their place as a mainstay in our labor force, provides American businesses with cost-effective means of production, but the current economic climate continues to threaten their status as able and effective workers. By 2015 the U.S. Census Bureau expects that 17% of the American population will be of Hispanic origin. This surge could offer greater opportunities for businesses, but as jobs openings continue to dwindle at unprecedented rates, Hispanics, who have been subject to the last hired and first fired phenomenon, have been left out in the cold. In this new economic era, how will Hispanic workers survive this unemployment crisis?

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Please read the following article about my new book, Hispanic Heresy, posted in the Lubbock Avalanche Journal, and in HispanicBusiness.com:

Tech authors see Hispanic boom as plus
By Marlena Hartz
AVALANCHE-JOURNAL
Sunday, March 15, 2009

Those who cast the nation's projected Hispanic population boom as a roadblock should take a closer look, according to three Texas Tech scholars. It's actually an economic boon, they say.

"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," said one of the scholars, Dallas-area attorney and lecturer Angel Reyes III.

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Please read the articles below, featured on March 10, 2009 in Texas Tech Today and Texas Tech University News:

Texas Tech Today
Hispanic Immigration: Facts versus Fallacies, Clarifying America's Opportunity
Three Rawls College of Business professionals address the booming Hispanic population in the U.S. and its economic, political and social impacts.
March 10, 2009
Written by Leslie Cranford

As the Hispanic population in the United States booms, fallacies surrounding the economic and social impact of Hispanics on America thrive. Two Texas Tech University professors and an alumnus argue that there are opportunities within the challenges that many people do not see.

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.

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Posted on TexParte Blog (http://texaslawyer.typepad.com/):

Dallas lawyer Angel L. Reyes III says policy makers need to start thinking about how the immigration of Hispanics to the United States impacts socio-economics. So Reyes and two business professors at Texas Tech University wrote a book on that topic published in December 2008.

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Please check out my new book, Hispanic Heresy, through Mead Publishing by clicking here.

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Lewis Beale of Miller-McCune Magazine recently interviewed me along with my co-author, Dr. Bradley Ewing about a recent paper we wrote which was published in the in the Journal of Business Valuation and Economic Loss Analysis.  Our research found that Latino unemployment is 2/3 higher than that of whites and if the current economic downswing continues, so will this staggering trend.  Please read the article below - click on “Examination and Comparison of Hispanic and White Unemployment Rates” to download a PDF of the original paper.

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Following the December 12, 2007 raid on the Swift & Company meatpacking plant, my firm, Heygood, Orr, Reyes, Pearson & Bartolomei, filed a class action lawsuit against Swift for its pattern of practice of replacing legal US Citizens and legal resident aliens with undocumented immigrant workers.   Now, yet another big company makes the news.  In May, 2008 in Postville, Iowa, federal immigration agents raided Agriprocessors Inc., the nation's largest kosher meatpacking plant, rounding up 389 illegal immigrants for deportation. Continue Reading...

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Breaking news: the Hispanic population in America is surging. Yes, I'm being sarcastic. Funny enough, when I was younger, I just couldn't imagine a day when this type of headline would make the Wall Street Journal. Remember, I was the kid who actually thought about changing my name when I moved to the U.S. mainland from Puerto Rico. Demography is destiny, and that means America, and especially Texas, both face a very interesting future. I can't wait. Lastly, all the folks who are worried about Spanish being spoken, documents being written with one side in English and the other in Spanish, should stop sweating it. The history of immigration will be repeated. First generation immigrants may, or may not, learn English. Their kids, who go to mostly public schools across the United States, learn English. Some learn it well, others not so well. Those kids' kids can't speak to Grandma and Grandpa except in English. For you traders out there, if it's not too early, start shorting Spanish language TV and radio stocks. I figure they'll go the way of the old Polish and Italian radio stations which flourished back in the early 1900's. The full Wall Street Journal article is below. Continue Reading...

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The class action lawsuit my firm, Heygood, Orr, Reyes, Pearson & Bartolomei filed against Swift Meatpacking accuses Swift of their pattern of practice of replacing legal US Citizens and legal resident aliens with undocumented immigrant workers.  This lawsuit made national headlines and was featured on numerous radio and television broadcasts for several months. Continue Reading...

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Today, Swift meatpacking suffered another blow to its continued pattern and practice of denying allegations that its management didn't knowingly hire illegal immigrants. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) made 19 new arrests this week. Continue Reading...

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While Heygood, Orr, Reyes & Bartolomei's Swift Meatpacking case continues to gain headlines, it seems you can't turn on the TV or open a newspaper without reading another article about the nation's immigration issues.  Recently in Texas, State Representative, Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, withdrew his legislation to penalize businesses that hire illegal immigrants.  In an interesting political twist, Mr. Anchia and other members of the Mexican-American Legislative Caucus joined the Texas Association of Business and several civil rights groups to form a coalition they said is committed to moving all immigration-related legislation out of the statehouse and up to Washington – including Mr. Anchia's bill. Continue Reading...

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What a wonderful country.  When the rest of the world is racing off towards globalization, America, at least in some areas, strangely enough, largely populated areas, wants to make English the only official language.  I think I missed the joke.  What purpose will these English-only laws serve?  How will they help Americans win the globalization race?  Are large geographic and populous regions in America really that dumb, weird, and scared?  I sure hope not.  I know one thing, the Mayor of Nashville, Bill Purcell,  isn't.  Hooray for common sense.  All this writing is making me hungry.  Hmm, maybe I'll have Mexican?  Chinese?  Italian?  No, no, no.  That would be scary, maybe I should stick to something more American.  Yikes, I can't think of any American food. Continue Reading...

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These days you can't open a newspaper without reading an article about "illegal" immigration and its impact on America.  For my money, immigration is the biggest domestic policy issue America faces in the years to come.  The world is watching how we handle our immigration policy.  President Bush has even crossed party lines in hopes of finding a solution to America's undocumented workforce problem. Continue Reading...

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As illegal immigration continues to be a huge issue in our country, this month has seen several scenarios that are relatively new to the national debate.  Spurring the discussions has been the December 12th raid on meatpacking giant, Swift & Co.  While the raid focused on undocumented immigrant labor, primarily facilitated by fraudulent Social Security numbers, it has also thrust our law firm into national focus due to the lawsuit we were putting together.  The lawsuit accuses Swift of having a pattern of practice of replacing legal US Citizens and legal resident aliens with undocumented immigrant workers from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala in effort to depress wages.  Wages have plummeted by 40-50% since this practice became common.  The question is, did/should management have known that almost one-third of its workforce was undocumented?

Immigration is the biggest domestic policy issue the United States faces in the coming years.  The world is watching how we handle our immigration policy.  We hope that by exposing the extreme profit-driven approach that some of our largest corporations are taking on the immigration issue, our lawsuit can help create movement towards a solution. In the meantime, we will continue to pursue our civil case against Swift.
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