Thread: City of Springfield addresses illegal immigration

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Wednesday, 09/13/06

City addresses illegal immigration

By Nicole Young
Robertson County Times


Springfield city leaders called a special meeting Thursday night to gather information that they say will lead them to a solution to what they call “the city’s growing problem of illegal immigration.”

About 70 Springfield citizens attended the meeting although no one was allowed to speak to the issue.

The Springfield Board of Mayor and Alderman had previously invited representatives from several local agencies to speak on illegal immigration.

Representatives from the medical field, school system, city government and law enforcement were on hand to provide facts about the Hispanic population and what they saw as their biggest challenges.

Paul Nutting, Springfield city manager, told the board that the city’s biggest concern was overcrowding.

“We have compiled a list of residences where we believe overcrowding is taking place and we will begin inspections within the next week,” Nutting explained. “We will be taking action against these landlords who rent to multiple Hispanics. The overcrowding is a safety and health issue. One unit we observed appeared to be hot bedding. One shift would come out in the morning and another would go in.”

Springfield Police Chief Mike Wilhoit told the board that his department had started to gather statistics on Hispanic citations and crime beginning in July 2005.

“For the fiscal year July 2005 through June 2006, we compiled statistics on the number of citations, number of arrests and number of offense reports filed for the Hispanic population,” Wilhoit said. “During that 12 month period, 47 percent of citations were issued to Hispanics, Hispanics made up 25 percent of our arrests and only 17 percent of the Hispanic population reported crime in the form of offense reports.
“We are still tracking those numbers and as of July of 2006, we’ve had 52 percent of citations issued to Hispanics. For August 2006, we had 50 percent of citations issued to Hispanics.”

Director of Schools Dan Whitlow told the board that Robertson County School System had seen over a 300 percent growth rate for Hispanics since 2002.

“Our biggest problem is the language barrier,” Whitlow said. “As far as population is concerned, Bransford Elementary has the highest percentage of Hispanics at 38 percent. Cheatham Park Elementary has a Hispanic population of 27 percent … and Springfield High has a population of 6.8 percent.

“The numbers are considerably lower at the high school level because most of our Hispanic students are coming into the system at the elementary level now. Bransford is an all kindergarten school and it has the highest population. The kids just haven’t made it up to the high school level yet.”

NorthCrest Medical Center CEO Scott Raines said the hospital’s biggest problem was with the uninsured population, which he said couldn’t be totally identified as an illegal immigration issue.

“We are focusing on the uninsured and obviously an illegal immigrant would be uninsured, but we don’t have statistics as to who is legal and who is not legal in the uninsured population. Our mission is to provide healthcare to all who reside in Robertson County, and we are accomplishing that. We just partnered with the state and local health department to open the indigent care center for the uninsured.”

County Executive Howard Bradley was also present.

“This is an issue for all of Robertson County and the entire region,” Bradley said. “I’m glad we are taking this discussion inside where it belongs.”





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I am glad to see local governments start addressing the illegal alien problem across Tennessee especially in Springfield and Robertson County. Metro Nashville has a bill on the floor to declare English the official language of Davidson County. Robertson County pay attention and follow suit.

Mr Whitlow, what is the increased cost to our school system to teach in languages other than English? Make that known before asking to increase my taxes for schools.

Mr. Bradley, I would like to see data on the property values before certain areas of Springfield became havens for illegals and now and the effect on property tax collections. Make that known before asking to raise my property taxes again.

Reading Chief Wilhoit's reports is evident the illegals are not here looking for a better life. Most of them are here looking for an easy life. If they are the "hard working people doing jobs Americans will not do", according to the Liberals, why are the crime numbers so skewed? Also, what are the numbers County wide?

Thank you for listening.

Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2006 11:15 am

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