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Shaping Georgia: The Effects of Immigration 1970-2020 Immigrants strain state, report says Washington — Though fewer than 3 percent of Georgians are foreign-born, a Washington-based foundation has issued a report warning of dire consequences to the state's budget, schools, work force, crime rate and even highways if immigration is not checked. The Center for Immigration Studies bases its conclusions on a five-fold increase in Georgia's immigrant population during the past two decades to about 173,000, a level well below the national average. Immigrants' rights groups say the conclusions are based on politics. "They're targeting Gingrich," said Frank Sharry, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, referring to House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia. John Martin, the research director of the Center for Immigration Studies, acknowledged that Gingrich was one reason the foundation singled out Georgia in its report, "but I wouldn't say that was the central focus." "Georgia was a kind of a test for us," Martin said, "as to whether or not we could do a study that would be interesting on a state that had a fairly low level of foreign-born settlement." Immigration overhaul is increasingly popular in Congress, particularly among Republican lawmakers, including Reps. Mac Collins and Charlie Norwood of Georgia. The foundation favors restricting immigration, particularly illegal immigration, as one means of controlling the nation's population growth. The group's first report was on Texas, and its next probably will be on Florida, both of which have large immigrant populations. Georgia's immigrants, now heavily Hispanic — the largest group is from Mexico — will begin to strain the state's schools, welfare programs, law enforcement and even its roads in the next two decades, the foundation warns in its report. The white share of the state's population, now 69 percent, will fall to 64 percent by 2020, the foundation projects. "Will Georgians willingly pay the taxes needed to permit the educational system to cope with rapid growth?" the report asks. "Will Georgians display the necessary tolerance to assure interracial peace, or will tensions rise and possibly lead to conflict?" Sharry accused the foundation of using "trumped up projections and hot-button rhetoric" to further its agenda. "If you name a problem, any problem, they'll tell you that immigrants are to blame," Sharry said. "These folks are just scrambling for nasty things to say about immigrants," said Cecilia Muñoz, an immigration specialist at the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic organization. "First they said the real threat of immigrants is that they take low-wage jobs away from people; then they said that immigrants are taking jobs away from engineers," Munoz said. "We're either too smart or not smart enough. We can't get it right for these folks."
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