Latinos Urge Redistricting

Latino law enforcement groups Friday called for immediate redrawing of Los Angeles County supervisorial districts and condemned a plan by Supervisor Mike Antonovich to delay the process for two years.

Leaders of groups representing Latino police officers, sheriff’s deputies and prison guards said at a Pasadena news conference that district boundaries now are unfairly drawn and deny Latinos equal opportunity in education and employment.

There are no Latinos on the Board of Supervisors and no district with a Latino majority, although census figures list about 2.6 million Latinos in the county.

“The current situation is disgraceful. It costs the Hispanic community millions of dollars in lost services and opportunity because we have no political representation,” said Lupe De La Garza, president of the Latin-American Law Enforcement Assn.

De La Garza and other leaders criticized Antonovich for supporting a two-year delay in the redistricting process.

The Justice Department has sued the Board of Supervisors, charging that district alignments deprive Latinos of fair representation. The suit seeks immediate redistricting.

Antonovich has said redistricting now using 1980 census figures would be unfair to Latinos and the entire county. He said redistricting should await results of the 1990 census.

“There is no reason to wait for 1990,” said Daniel Macias, president of the Chicano Correctional Worker Assn. “The Census Bureau has said it can make projections, and we can go ahead with redistricting now. Not next week, next year or in two years.”