In deep-red Georgia, a GOP voice pushes back on immigration crackdown

Republican state Rep. Kasey Carpenter is an affable Dalton restaurateur with a long record of voting with his party on hard line conservative measures — except when it comes to immigration.

Over the years, Carpenter has pushed to allow young immigrants protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to pay in-state tuition. He’s also urged lawmakers to adopt more immigrant-friendly legislation and opposed some of his party’s state-level immigration crackdowns.

It’s a stance that sometimes puts him at odds with fellow Republicans in deep-red North Georgia, where President Donald Trump’s promises to tighten immigration laws resonate. But it’s also a region powered by immigrant labor, especially in the carpet mills that dominate the local economy.

That tension came to a head this month after 19-year-old college student Ximena Arias-Cristobal was arrested by a Dalton police officer and turned over to federal immigration authorities after a traffic stop.

The Mexican-born Georgia woman spent more than two weeks at the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin before being granted a $1,500 bond on May 22. The officer who arrested her has since resigned.

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

Carpenter wrote a character letter vouching for Arias-Cristobal, calling her a “person of high moral character.” And over the weekend, he’s launched a Change.org petition asking Congress to overhaul the nation’s immigration system.

His call echoes long-stalled bipartisan proposals: tighter border security combined with a pathway to citizenship for some immigrants living in the U.S. without legal status. It’s a framework that federal GOP leaders have repeatedly rejected.

But Carpenter told us Arias-Cristobal’s arrest has crystallized his frustration with the political gridlock.

“I am sick and tired of everyone kicking the can on immigration and only focusing on one aspect,” he said.

“Every election cycle these folks are held hostage by both Democrats and Republicans and it has to stop. We need them and it is time to focus our attention on making it fair, fast and reasonable.”

Things to know

Good morning! The primary for Districts 2 and 3 of the Public Service Commission is just 21 days away. Early voting starts today. District 2 covers the east Atlanta suburbs to Athens, Augusta, and Savannah. District 3 covers Clayton, DeKalb and Fulton counties.

Here are three other things to know for today:

Georgia 2026

Credit: John Spink/AJC

Credit: John Spink/AJC

A fascinating tidbit from a New York Times deep dive into 2024 election data helps explain why Georgia is so politically competitive:

For those keeping score, they are: Cobb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Henry and Rockdale. The other three counties are in Indiana, Missouri and New Mexico.

Campaign watch

Credit: Courtesy photo

Credit: Courtesy photo

When members of Congress announce they’re running for another office, there’s usually a stampede of candidates lining up to replace them, especially from their same political party.

But that hasn’t happened yet in Georgia’s 1st Congressional District, despite Republican U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter’s run for the U.S. Senate in 2026. The Republican reluctance hints at doubts over whether Carter will stay in the Senate race, especially given the uncertainty over who Gov. Brian Kemp and President Donald Trump will endorse.

That doesn’t bother Patrick Farrell, a Republican Chatham County commissioner who is taking steps to run for Carter’s seat.

“I spoke to (Carter) … personally,” he said. “He was emphatic that he was not only going to run, but he was going to win the Senate. That’s what he told me.”

That echoes what Carter has told us on the “Politically Georgia“ podcast — that he would “absolutely” stay in the race.

“I believe God’s got a plan. I believe he has opened a door for me and I need to step through that door,” Carter said.

Farrell isn’t a political newcomer. He’s been on the Chatham County Commission for more than two decades. And he’s getting some high-profile help from Mark Rountree, the veteran political consultant who ran Carter’s 2014 congressional campaign.

Farrell said he won’t try to do too much in his campaign, presenting himself as “an authentic conservative.”

“What’s going to set me apart is I’m just going to be me, the authentic conservative who doesn’t have to do polling to figure out where I stand on issues,” he said.

So far, Farrell’s only Republican competition that we know of is Kandiss Taylor, a far-right Republican who ran for governor in 2022 while promoting false conspiracy theories that Georgia Republican leaders were secret Communists, Democrats and satanic pedophiles.

Road trip

Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC

Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC

Starting tonight, Stacey Abrams will join Georgia’s House Democrats on a statewide listening tour as she mulls a third run for the state’s top job.

Abrams is one of several “prominent Democrats” scheduled to attend the sessions, which begin at 6 p.m. in LaGrange. Other stops include Montezuma on Thursday and Dawson on Saturday.

Abrams was the Democratic nominee for governor in 2018 and again in 2022, both times losing to Republican Brian Kemp. If she runs again, she’ll have to navigate a competitive Democratic primary that includes state Sen. Jason Esteves and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.

Abrams and others will discuss the Georgia House Democratic Caucus’ “Opportunity Agenda” and will take questions from the audience.

ATL marketing

Credit: Ben Gray for the AJC

Credit: Ben Gray for the AJC

We’re willing to bet most people have heard of Atlanta’s airport, and more than that, they have feelings about it. Now, the airport’s new leader wants to help shape those feelings.

The Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport doesn’t have a division focused solely on marketing, probably because it hasn’t needed one as the world’s busiest airport. But new general manager Ricky Smith told Atlanta City Council members he plans to change that.

“There has to be more to the airport than just being the busiest in the world,” he said. “We have to educate the public in that respect.”

The move comes as the ATL airport is celebrating its 100th year. It’s been the world’s busiest airport every year since 1998, except in 2020, when an airport in China surpassed it during the pandemic.

The airport saw 108.1 million passengers last year, according to the AJC’s Emma Hurt — a number airport officials expect to jump to 125 million over the next five years.

Copy cats

Credit: Jose Luis Magana/AP

Credit: Jose Luis Magana/AP

Elon Musk may be stepping away from the Department of Government Efficiency initiative, but his vision appears to be living on in states across the country.

Governors in Florida, Iowa, Oklahoma and New Hampshire have all launched their own DOGE-like executive initiatives, according to a new review by the Council of State Governments. Meanwhile, lawmakers in North Carolina, Oklahoma and Texas created oversight committees tasked with rooting out waste.

Georgia lawmakers filed their own DOGE-inspired legislation. But the bill garnered opposition following widespread federal layoffs, including at Atlanta’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The bill passed the Senate but stalled in the House.

Georgia isn’t the only one. The review notes legislatures in Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky and South Carolina all introduced DOGE-related legislation that has not passed yet.

Listen up

On Monday’s edition of the “Politically Georgia” podcast, we answered your questions from the listener mailbag on everything from Georgia’s abortion law, President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’ run for governor, and the 2026 Senate contenders.

Have a question or comment for the show? Email us at politicallygeorgia@ajc.com or give us a call at 770-810-5297 and you could be featured on a future episode.

You can listen and subscribe to the show for free at Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Today in Washington

Shoutouts

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

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Before you go

Credit: AJC

Credit: AJC

We did a double take over the weekend when we spotted Doug Collins and Kelly Loeffler side by side in a video posted to X. The former bitter rivals in the 2020 U.S. Senate race now hold key Cabinet posts in the Trump administration. Loeffler even called Collins “my great colleague in the cabinet.”

That’ll do it for us today. As always, you can send your best scoops, gossip and insider info to greg.bluestein@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com, patricia.murphy@ajc.com and adam.beam@ajc.com.