Deportations Have Consequences
Longtime workers who pay taxes and have committed no crimes after coming here illegally are scheduled to get deported by the millions. Are Americans ready for hotels, restaurants, landscaping, construction and meatpacking companies going belly up? Is Georgia prepared to lose its poultry industry? Are we OK with seeing local businesses and services shuttering? The answer coming from the White House, in particular from Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, is a loud “you betcha!”
ICE agents are stressed by the daily quota of 3,000 arrests. Most don’t believe it’s achievable. To meet the demand, could arresting and detaining legal immigrants become a reality by agents afraid of being fired for not meeting arrest quotas? If later deported to a foreign country, will the administration immediately move to retrieve them, or will the response be, “oops,” and little to no effort is made to correct a serious wrong?
Most Americans are uncomfortable with removing undocumented immigrants who have committed no crimes while here and pay taxes performing jobs that are vital to our economy. Do we have the right politicians in place to solve this problem? If not, elections are coming.
Peggy Perkins
Winder
ACCPD Overpolices East Athens
When I told a classmate where I lived, just down the road from the Nellie B community, she raised her eyebrows and told me that she hoped I locked my doors at night. As a student who had only come to Athens initially for undergrad and had spent most of that time in the student dorms, I hadn’t been particularly aware of the reputations of the different areas of Athens. I had heard vaguely about the “dangerous” Eastside, but when I had lived over there for a summer, I hadn’t encountered any of the crime that had been promised.
Most days now, I drive through the Nellie B. community, whether it be on the way to a friend’s house or work or the Racetrac. The police presence is impossible to ignore. While a police station sits right in that area, I can’t help but notice the cars camped out by the convenience stores, one of the local churches or, most frequently, the intersection of Vine and North Peter streets.
Looking at crime maps, we can see the Nellie B. community has some of the highest crime rates across Athens, especially compared to higher income communities such as the Beechwood Hills and Glenwood area. Looking specifically at the stretch of land between Fortson Drive, South Lumpkin Street, Duncan Springs Road, Riverhill Drive and the Middle Oconee River—one of the highest income areas of Athens—we can see there have been a total of 15 crimes committed this year. In comparison, on a similar stretch of land between Trail Creek, Oak Street and the Loop encompassing Nellie B, there have been 147 reported crimes. Additionally, 48% of use-of-force incidents reported in 2024 involved Black men, despite 26% of the population identifying as Black across all genders.
I would suggest that this is not because Black or impoverished people are more likely to commit crimes, but due to potential excessive surveillance of these areas. While my drives through the Nellie B community do not offer proof of this, I think this is an issue that desperately needs more investigation and must be addressed by the Athens-Clarke County Police. While they promote their community-oriented policing approach and the bias-based policing training, I think the use-of-force statistics alone demonstrates the need for further intervention.
I approach this issue as a college student, though now a resident, whose presence has contributed to the reduction of affordable housing in Athens and the increased segregation of Black and lower-income communities. I do not claim to know the cultures of these communities, or even of Athens as a whole, but I think it is the duty of us all to look out for our neighbors and ensure safety and justice in our community. I urge there to be further investigation into the increased surveillance of lower-income and historically Black areas of Athens to invest in a more equitable future for us all.
Alex Grayson
Athens
How to Help the Homeless
Flagpole’s report highlighting a troubling 12% rise in Athens’ unhoused population, identifying 386 individuals in 2024, and the growing intersections of mental illness and substance use invokes great concern. As a UGA graduate student pursuing a master’s in social work, I applaud the county for piloting co-responder teams. However, I believe there is more to be done in order to assist unhoused individuals living in Athens.
To meaningfully address homelessness, Athens should integrate the co-responder team initiative with permanent supportive housing (PSH) models. PSH combines affordable housing with onsite services and has proven effective in reducing chronic homelessness and public costs. A systematic review from Lancet Public Health conducted in 2020 discovered high-support unhoused individuals were 42% more likely to acquire long-term housing stability using the PSH model. Athens-Clarke County has American Rescue Plan Act funds already set aside and could allocate them to scale PSH in partnership with the Athens Homeless Coalition and Advantage Behavioral Health.
Student housing complexes are built left and right throughout Athens, but rarely is affordable housing prioritized. We have the space, yet allow investors to buy up land to further enrich themselves. It is a shame to turn a blind eye to those in need in pursuit of enrichment.
Additionally, the Athens-Clarke County Commission should commit to a quarterly homelessness oversight forum conducted by local nonprofits and law enforcement to monitor outcomes, identify gaps and engage residents directly. Working with the community directly and building such relationships shows support for these individuals and ensures they feel autonomy over their journey.
These steps would move us from crisis response to systemic support. Athens has the civic and financial resources to lead on this issue and to ensure every resident has a home and the services they need.
Bentley Malone
Athens
What Are Republicans Afraid Of?
Politicians are pretty cowardly, and are generally the last people to understand whatever the newest trend is, the final passengers on the bandwagon of life. This is clear in the passage of Trump’s likely disastrous spending and bankrupting bill. The number of Republicans who clearly didn’t want it to pass but who passed it anyway was palpable. A few of them even came out against it—after voting for it.
Do they not realize that President Trump’s popularity is on the downslide? Have they not seen a decent chunk of MAGA folks jumping off the sinking ship? Can they not remember how few of President Trump’s handpicked candidates won in his last midterm election? It begs the question, “What are they afraid of?” A few angry tweets?
That’s not what America wants. And what we want still matters. We don’t want masked thugs in our neighborhoods. Didn’t Trump campaign against masked agitators before masking his own agitators? Are we that far down the rabbit hole that politicians can no longer see the forest for the trees?
Has there ever been a good society that sent masked agents into churches to drag children out and send them to concentration camps? Is that part of a free society? Dear God, they’ve shed the ancient notion of church sanctuary in their zeal to gin up anger against brown people—and it’s not working. Shared social media videos show Americans standing up to this nonsense all over the country. Can the politicians not see that? Don’t they have aides looking at social media to get a bead on the landscape?
America will right this ship, but it’s going to take some courage from our leaders. Now’s the time. Do what you already know is right.
Bowen Craig
Athens
Deporting Citizens Is Wrong
The current ICE arrests, detentions and deportations are not about law and order; they are fascist theater designed to instill fear in both the immigrant community and the public at large.
The reason we have such a large undocumented population is because the system works as it is designed to, providing cheap labor for agriculture and construction, as well as other sectors. Immigrants have become part of the fabric of our communities, contributing in myriad ways, as can be seen in the example of Carol Mayorga, whose rural Trump-voting community was so dismayed by her arrest that they pressured officials to release her and raised money to help her make up for the wages she missed while being detained. In another example of a community coming to the fore to protect a member of the community, neighbors in Worcester, MA tried to protect a Brazilian grandmother who was forcibly separated from her new grandchild and her 16-year-old daughter. Nothing says “USA” quite like the scene of large men in tactical gear manhandling screaming, defenseless women.
Not only have the undocumented been seized, but also U.S. citizens such as Hasan Piker, a popular leftist streamer; a two-year-old U.S. citizen deported without due process; and Juan Carlos Lopez Gomez, a 20-year-old U.S. citizen. The latter was held even after his mother brought his birth certificate and social security number to the judge. This is lawlessness. And if we stand at the sidelines and do nothing, we condone it. Furthermore, if these actions are allowed to continue, who is to stop the ICE mega-army when they come for more citizens?
The need for immigration reform, for pathways to legal status for those who contribute to this nation, is incontrovertible. Abusing a vulnerable population, however, is not the reform that is needed. It is simply wrong.
Sara Baker
Athens
What Kind of Person Are You?
We Americans have many names we use to describe ourselves. Which of these is yours?
Compassionate: Do you believe that two million Americans should lose Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits and almost 12 million lose Medicaid health insurance? That’s what the Congressional Budget Office estimates will happen as Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act goes into effect.
Family-oriented: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) tears families apart when a parent, often a longtime U.S. resident who has no criminal record, is abducted.
Financially conservative: Why give enough money to ICE to make it the third largest police/military budget in the world, only behind China and the U.S., when we already outspend the world on defense?
Nature-loving: Because the act cuts incentives to free us from fossil fuels, the pressures of climate change will stress all living organisms as floods, droughts, hurricanes and temperature extremes become even more common than today.
Law abiding: Should the laws our country was founded upon, such as the right to speak freely and the right to legal counsel, be tossed out, as the current Department of Justice seems determined to do?
Christian: In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus says to his followers, “I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked, and you gave me clothes to wear. I was sick, and you took care of me. I was in prison, and you visited me.” Does this sound like our current government?
Every day we have a chance to decide which description fits our response to the actions of the current regime. Will you be true to the words you would choose to describe yourself?
Barbara Burt
Athens
Like what you just read? Support Flagpole by making a donation today. Every dollar you give helps fund our ongoing mission to provide Athens with quality, independent journalism.
