States like Georgia and its local communities are faced with the increased costs of a dramatic population boom as millions of people are illegally crossing both the southern and northern U.S. borders, according to think tank reports.
That increase likely includes many who don’t know English, have little education, and several children – all of which affects infrastructure, education, law enforcement, and health facilities – the reports state.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said in February that 8 million illegal immigrants found their way into the U.S. since 2021. More than 250,000 individuals were arrested last December. According to House Speaker Mike Johnson, the actual number of illegal aliens crossing the border over the past three years is 17 million.
Official numbers have the number of illegal immigrants in Georgia at around 340,000 but immigration agencies put the number at 400,000.
According to 2023 numbers, it costs the State of Georgia $13,267 a year to educate one student K-12. The American Academy of Pediatrics states that one out of three children living in Georgia are undocumented. The last official numbers, covering 2010 through 2014 state that 186,822 children were U.S. citizens living with at least one undocumented family member, meaning they were born here to undocumented immigrant parents.
That means it costs the state $2.4 trillion a year to educate immigrant children who were born here but the number doesn’t include how many are here who are undocumented.
While immigration advocates state illegal immigrants have had minimal impact on crime, Georgia’s crime numbers indicate much has changed over the past three years. The crime rate in Georgia was 2.04. That decreased 13.45 percent from 2018. Violent crime in Georgia has increased yearly since 2019.
Georgia’s crime is worse than national trends with homicide rates rising by 66 percent and juvenile crime increasing by 65 percent.
Regardless of where they come from, Georgia’s population has grown. It went from 9.7 million in 2010 to 10.5 million in 2018. That affects infrastructure. Georgia has never been graded well on that subject. It was graded as a C by the American Society of Civil Engineers until 2019 when it was given a C+.
Infrastructure includes items beyond roads and highways as well includes water, sanitation, utilities, public transportation, and any other service local governments provide. There are no clear numbers of how much money infrastructure will cost with the influx of undocumented immigrants but more than 92 percent are adults so you can expect they will be commuting and using public services.
Where the Growth Is
Some Georgia counties are more affected than others. Atlanta and other urban areas see more illegal immigrants than rural areas. Counties where military bases are located also see a more dramatic increase than other counties.
In the north Georgia area, the two counties that repeatedly topped the list for illegal immigration since the 1970s are Cobb and Whitfield Counties. Cobb County is one of the top Georgia counties growing with illegal immigration.
Whitfield, where Dalton is located, has manufacturing as a major industry. Construction and manufacturing are the two top industries hiring illegal immigrants, according to government statistics. Numbers from the 1990 U.S. Census showed that Hispanic and Asian populations grew by 10.2 percent in Whitfield County between 1980 and 1990.
Maps show much of the undocumented population is moving northeast out of Atlanta to Hall County. However, a more recent trend is that migrant immigrants are moving from Cobb County into neighboring counties, moving northwest into North Georgia toward Walker County.
A Look at Immigration Numbers
The Pew Research Center said illegal immigrants in Georgia make up 36 percent of the immigrant population. There aren’t numbers showing illegal immigration numbers specifically for other North Georgia counties. However, plenty of statistics exist for the state.
While illegal immigration in Georgia has been talked about since the 1970s, both illegal and legal immigration picked up pace nationally post-9/11, according to a 2023 report from the Georgia Budget & Policy Institute.
Undocumented immigration rose 11 percent in 2002, leveled off, and rose again 9 percent between 2004 and 2006. It took a dip in 2007 to zero percent increase, rose 6 percent in 2008, decreased again through 2012, and remained at between a 2 and 4 percent increase yearly until it dropped to no increase in 2017.
Illegal immigration rose from zero to 2 percent in 2017 and was at zero again in 2018. It rose 2 percent in 2019 and was at zero growth in 2020. Reasons for the numbers include President Donald Trump’s tough stance on illegal immigration, more deportation, and the COVID pandemic. Georgia’s immigration detention is one of the highest in the nation.
By comparison, Georgia’s overall population grew by 600,000 in 2000 to 1.1 million in 2020. The current estimation of undocumented people in Georgia is 339,000, which includes those living in the U.S. for more than 15 years, according to a Migration Policy Institute report.
That report gives other characteristics of this group such as most come from Mexico or Central America but 104,000 come from other places like the Caribbean, South America, Europe, Canada, Asia, and Africa. Nine thousand are unemployed and 97,000 aren’t documented in the labor force at all.
Among other attributes:
• 324,000 are older than 15 years old
• 138,000 have children
• 137,000 have a formal education with a degree, either high school or a higher level
• 152,000 speak little to no English
• 238,000 have no health insurance
The reason they are drawn to Georgia is jobs. This state, and consequently certain counties, have lots of manual, unskilled jobs they can do. Georgia’s unemployment rate was 3.1 percent compared to 3.8 percent nationally, according to an April 2024 report from the Wall Street Journal.
Local Communities Affected the Most
North Georgia residents can look to the past to find out how undocumented immigration will likely affect local communities. The 1995 report Shaping Georgia: The Effects of Immigration, 1975-2020 from the Center of Immigration Studies stated smaller communities would be affected the most by illegal immigration because it would be a proportionately greater problem.
Even in 1995, Smyrna with a 31,000 population was outspoken about its concern over illegal immigrants settling in the “Jonquil City.” Then-mayor Max Bacon said illegal immigrants committed 83 percent of illegal activities. He accused INS in Atlanta of failing its purpose because only 72 illegal immigrants were deported between 1992 and 1995.
Dalton also expressed concern back then. It has 21,000 citizens but that includes what officials believe were several thousand illegal immigrants in or around the city.
Predictions presented in the research paper stated that Georgia would have a 2020 population surpassing 10 million, growing faster than the U.S. and many of those would be undocumented immigrants.
Other predictions were the Hispanic population would grow by 57 percent and the Asian population would increase by 65 percent, outpacing both blacks and whites. This means changes in all areas of state and local services.
The numbers listed in the paper are on track with Georgia’s population topping 10.5 million in 2018. Latinos are the third-largest racial group in Georgia, making up 10 percent of the population, growing by 96 percent between 2000 and 2010. The Georgian Asian population has grown 175 percent over the past 20 years.
Migration maps show Hispanic and Latino populations heavy in Cobb County, but moving outward to Paulding, Bartow, Cherokee, Gordon, and Polk. Cherokee County is seeing a big shift while most of the migration trend moves east through Gwinnett and Hall Counties.
The Asian population is sticking to the more metropolitan counties surrounding Atlanta but Cobb County is seeing a strong migration in that population too. Other counties affected are Paulding, Bartow, Cherokee, and Whitfield.
The Cost of Illegal and Legal Immigration
All of the research papers said illegal and legal immigrants settling into a community costs millions of dollars to that community. It requires funding additional resources in education, healthcare, and infrastructure. It affects traffic, accidents, and even the cost of auto insurance. All of that is paid for by citizens in terms of taxes and increased costs.
The 1995 paper stated it costs on average 50 percent more to educate a non-English speaking student than one who speaks English. One of the basic requirements that immigration forces on schools is English as a Second Language (ESOL) classes for children who don’t know the language.
Yet, one of the most direct and immediate ways immigration affects local communities is in traffic, according to the report. Increased traffic by a high population growth means more highways, freeways, bridges, and mass transit.
Georgia has been above the national average of vehicles to people since the 1990s. Back in 1990, Georgians had the ratio of vehicles to people at 85 vehicles per every 100 people. The U.S. average at that time was 75. The state had 110,482 highways then.
The latest statistics from 2022 show the percentage to be 87 vehicles per 100 people with 3.5 million vehicle registrations occurring in 2021. Georgia is seventh in the country for vehicle ownership. The number of highways and interstates has, for the most part, remained the same.
Statistics show that 14 percent of U.S. drivers were uninsured in 2021 and, ironically, the cost of full auto coverage rose 14 percent from 2022 to 2023. That raises the cost of insuring a vehicle to around $78 per vehicle, according to the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA).
Georgia’s average for uninsured motorists is 12.4 percent. While this number includes all races, surveys, and attorneys said the percentage includes a disapportionment number of undocumented immigrants who won’t purchase auto insurance because of their illegal status. They are also the ones most likely to flee after an accident out of fear of deportation.
Health insurance statistics show that 50 percent of illegal immigrant adults had no health insurance in 2023, compared to 6 percent of naturalized and U.S.-born citizens.
Crime is another infrastructure issue affected by a booming illegal population. Figures show most are involved in low-level crimes but the strain on the infrastructure remains in additional law enforcement personnel and facilities to book and house them, according to policy papers.
It also costs to deport them and that cost is spread among the state and federal government. The cost to the state of holding people for ICE was approximately $18 million in 2011 and 2012 and $8.3 million in 2017, according to a 2018 report from the Georgia Budget & Policy Institute.
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