ATLANTA—The parking deck of the Latin American Association was so full that officers directed people to a nearby office complex. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed was coming to address a town hall on immigration.
The hastily called meeting was to respond to the bombshell ruling that President Barack Obama’s plan to expand Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) must halt. Starting Feb. 18, it was going to apply to people over 30, for the first time. Then a new program for parents of American citizens or permanent residents was to begin in May. Both are on hold.
Reed evoked two of Atlanta’s most heartfelt visions of itself: An international city and the cradle of the civil rights movement.
Once the international city idea was an aspiration. Now it is becoming real. Since 2000, two thirds of Atlanta’s net population growth was from foreign-born people, according to the Census, and the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC). “It’s the second fastest-growing foreign-born population in America,” Reed said. Baltimore is first.
The mayor came to talk to migrants and immigrant advocates on Feb. 20 because “inclusiveness is part of Atlanta’s DNA, and ”we are known around the world as the cradle of the civil rights movement.” Atlanta is the birthplace of Martin Luther King Jr. and of other important civil rights leaders and groups.
To Reed, a Democrat and an Obama supporter, America “would do well to welcome this growth instead of trying to suppress it.” He is part of a coalition of mayors who support “Welcoming America,” meant to welcome all individuals regardless of race, ethnicity, or place of origin.
The Welcoming Atlanta Group works to carry out those goals. Helen Kim Ho is on the Welcoming Atlanta Advisory Committee. She also evoked civil rights.
She said: “America’s terribly outdated federal immigration laws have caused millions of Americans to live and work without legal status and basic protections, and it’s not just a reality for Latino families; 1.3 million Asian Americans are living and working without legal status. In our state of Georgia, 51,000 Asian Americans are also undocumented. So this is not just a Latino issue. But this is not just an Asian and Latino issue either, or just an Asian, Latino, Caribbean, African, all immigrant and refugee issue. This is a human rights issue. This is a moral issue.”
