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Council tables vote on illegals
Ordinance would have cracked down on immigrants
By ERIC SNYDER
The Leaf-Chronicle

The City Council voted 8-4 Thursday to table, or postone indefinitely, an ordinance that would have fined businesses or landlords for knowingly hiring or giving shelter to illegal immigrants.

The ordinance also would have deemed English the "official language of city government."

Ward 4 Councilman Wallace Redd prepared the ordinance in response to a walk-through of a New Providence Trailer Park known to house several illegal immigrants. During the event, law enforcement officials and Mayor Don Trotter asked Hispanic residents of the park to report the crimes committed against them.

Law enforcement officials explained Hispanics who immigrate here are often mistrustful of authorities because they hail from countries with corrupt police forces.

The ordinance was tabled after a public comment session which, unlike that from Tuesday's working session, featured a majority of speakers in favor of the ordinance.

"The term 'illegal alien' doesn't mean Hispanic," said James Mooneyhan, who said supporters of the ordinance were unfairly being characterized as racist — sentiments echoed by George Arzente and Delsina Espinoza, fellow supporters of Redd's proposal.

Mooneyhan, who said he's been unemployed since 2004, said he'd applied for some of the jobs he'd heard Americans wouldn't do — cleaning hotel rooms for instance — and hadn't even received a call back.

Trotter said the ordinance may be reconsidered only if a council member who voted to table the motion moves to untable it.

For Angel Natal, who helped organize the police walk-through that spurred Redd's ordinance, Thursday's vote was a "victory and a glory."

"Today we are happy to bury the proposal that Mr. Redd proposed in the garbage," he said.

Ward 6 Councilman Marc Harris made the motion to table the ordinance, saying he never heard any facts or statistics specific to Clarksville that made it necessary.

After the meeting, Monica DeRise-Safko, a first-generation American, asked Harris why he felt Clarksville was immune to the drain placed on other communities by illegal immigrants.

"It's a growing problem," she said, adding that she believed illegal immigration was preventing black Clarksvillians from finding work.

Harris replied that he didn't see the proof, and that local government shouldn't be blamed for the "failure of federal government."

After several minutes of charged discussion, the two shook hands, agreeing they had a difference of opinion.

Seconds later, their debate resumed.

Eric Snyder covers city government and the courts. He can be reached at 245-0262, or by e-mail at ericsnyder@theleafchronicle.com.