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Sunday, 08/27/06

Officials encourage immigrants to work with police
Delegation tours New Providence to build relations


By ERIC SNYDER
The Leaf-Chronicle


CLARKSVILLE — Clarks ville's chief of police, mayor, a detective with handcuffs in his waistband and several uniformed officers came to Burkhart's Mobile Home Park in New Providence recently to deliver a message to the immigrant workers, many here illegally, who live there.

Police Chief Mark Smith was the first to deliver the group's message to a Hispanic mother of a 2-year-old boy.

"No, not me," she said, though her nervousness shined through her laugh.

She, and the rest of the Burkhart residents, needn't have worried.

"If you need anything, you call us," Smith said, one hand on the woman's shoulder.

For a number of reasons, the mobile home park has been the site of numerous crimes. The city delegation was there to let the residents know it's OK to report crimes.

Darlene Holton, manager of the mobile home park, estimated half of her tenants are Hispanic, and half of them are here illegally.

For opportunistic criminals, undocumented workers make easy targets. They are mostly wage earners who come home every Friday with cash in their pockets.

And because they are either here illegally or immigrate from counties where authorities are feared, they are slow to report being assaulted and robbed of their week's pay.

The group of officials, which started about 18 strong and included numerous leaders of the Hispanic community, attempted to reassure the tenants they could report crimes without fear of deportation.

"They don't have to run away every time they see a police officer," said Julio Gonzalez, owner of LaVoz, a Spanish language newspaper in Clarksville. "They're not immigration agents."

As they approached a group of Hispanic construction workers relaxing in the shade, the apprehension was clear.

Within moments, however, laughter broke out and the new guests were dared to eat some of the hotter peppers from their garden.

As the group walked the neighborhood, it grew in size, with some Hispanic residents joining its ranks.

Clarksville Police detective Eric Green said having other Hispanic residents in the crowd was a big factor in the group being received so well.

When he tried a similar walk in Burkhart's Mobile Home Park two years ago, it was 90 minutes before anyone would talk to him.

Police were not the only ones reaching out at Burkhart's; campaigning politicians were out shaking hands.

A state Democratic Party photographer took two sets of photos. The first featured Joe Pitts, candidate for the 67th District state House seat at front and center, and the second featured Tim Barnes, candidate for the 68th District seat.

The two were gone soon after.

Two Hispanic men who joined the group were Hektor, a husband and father from Guatemala who still has a wife and three children there, and Refugio, a single 19-year-old from Mexico.

The two, who spoke through Gonzalez as a translator, declined to give their last names.

Refugio, who has been in Clarksville for three months, said he works as a mason in Nashville with his uncle, sending money to Mexico for his brother, sister and parents.

"I'm going to move them forward," he said, through Gonzalez.

Asked if he'd been a crime victim, Gonzalez said Refugio replied, "Not yet."

Hektor, who has been here for four months, said he would return to Guatemala, where he worked the fields for $3 a day, after two or three years of sending money to his family and parents.

"The word of God says you don't abandon your parents when they worked so hard to raise you," he said through the interpreter.

Green said Burkhart residents' legal status is insignificant if they are being victimized.

Inside the park, Green pointed to a bullet hole under a home's window. About three weeks ago, assailants pistol-whipped a Hispanic man inside as they attempted to rob him.

The gun went off. The man was shot in the head, but he survived.

"If we let things go just because they're illegal aliens, it'll spread out to the entire community," Green said.

The detective hopes that by reaching out to the community, Hispanics will report more crimes. And as they become less vulnerable, perhaps they won't have to dodge more bullets. •