Legal help provided for immigrants moving to Georgia

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - According to the Vera Institute, roughly 1,000,000 immigrants live in Georgia, accounting for 11 percent of the state’s population. More than three-fourths of immigrants live in metro Atlanta and more than half are at risk of deportation.

Tim Isaacson is a Department of Justice Accredited Representative and Executive Director of the nonprofit Immigration Hope. He’s seeing more people seeking legal help in the state of Georgia.

Isaacson says Title 42 was morally and legally harmful for immigrants looking to enter the state legally. He said the new rule is not much better.

“Without Title 42, you don’t have the same rights. Once you’ve been turned away, you can’t come right back. While 42 is going away, the programs they’re enacting are not much better,” said Isaacson.

Title 42 will be replaced with Title 8. Under that, migrants who cross the border without authorization must prove they are eligible asylum seekers. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas defended the Biden regulation on Friday, saying it aims to encourage immigrants to enter using legal pathways.

“We have surge personnel, we have added capacity, we will manage through the situation, but what this reflects is we are operating though very serious restraints,” said Sec. Mayorkas.

“It’s so frustrating. Congress has one job, to pass laws, and they’ve been punting this thing around for a long time. The chaos that we see gets to be laid at their feet more than anyone else’s,” said Isaacson.

The City of Atlanta was awarded nearly $7 million in FEMA funding to distribute to local organizations. The city will work with the United Way of Greater Atlanta to identify the organizations that will receive that money.

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