Georgia Today: Medicaid and SNAP backlog; MTG's regrets on spending bill vote; Restoring oyster beds

Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast. Here we bring you the latest reports from the GPB newsroom. On today's episode, Georgia tackles a backlog of Medicaid and SNAP applicants. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has regrets about her vote for the so-called Big Beautiful Bill, and wildlife officials try a new method for restoring oyster habitats near Sapelo Island.

Tyler Jones: It'll provide within a couple of years, some good growth of oyster beds there. And on top of that, it helps shoreline stabilization. So it's — it's a barrier. It's a buffer for storms.

Peter Biello: Today is Thursday, June 5. I'm Peter Biello, and this is Georgia Today.

Story 1:

Peter Biello: The Georgia Department of Human Services says it needs help addressing a backlog of applications for Medicaid and the food assistance program known as SNAP. At the peak of its backlog last year, 150,000 people were waiting on Medicaid applications, and 80,000 were waiting for SNAP. The state Senate demanded a plan, and the plan delivered earlier this month reported that the SNAP response time is back to normal. Medicaid, however? Different story. The number of applicants waiting more than two is growing. Many people with help on hold are elderly, blind, or disabled. DHS cites the need for more caseworkers and automation to improve response times and for a more streamlined application process.

Story 2:

Peter Biello: A planned expansion of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center in Southeast Georgia is generating pushback despite a delay in the plan. GPB's Sarah Kallis reports from a protest in Atlanta today.

Sarah Kallis: The $47 million proposal is on hold due to a federal directive limiting new expenditures to $20 million, but the plan could still move forward. Opponents are hoping to stop it altogether. Meredith Youn is a member of the shut down Folkston ICE Processing Center campaign. She says a 2022 report from the office of the inspector general found problems at the facility.

Meredith Youn: Folkston is an abusive ICE detention center where there are reported deficiencies and violations of the performance-based national detention standards

Sarah Kallis: If federal funding is approved, Charlton County commissioners will still need to vote on the proposal. The Folkston expansion would increase the capacity of the detention center to nearly 3,000 beds, making it the largest processing center in the country. For GPB News, I'm Sarah Kallis in Atlanta.

Story 3:

Peter Biello: Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has regrets. She says she wouldn't have voted for President Trump's massive budget bill if she had known it contains a provision that would freeze state regulation of artificial intelligence for a decade. The Rome Republican spoke about the provision yesterday.

Marjorie Taylor Greene: AI has developed quickly over the past few years. Imagine what it will be one year from now, five years from now and 10 years from. When we look to the future, we cannot take away states' rights to regulate or make laws to protect the people in their state.

Peter Biello: Six members of Georgia's General Assembly signed a bipartisan letter dated Tuesday opposing the federal freeze.

Story 4:

Peter Biello: The FDA has escalated a tomato recall that affects Georgia, now labeling it a Class 1, the most serious type, indicating potential risk of serious illness or death. The recall involves tomatoes from Williams Farms' Repack sold to wholesalers and distributors between April 23rd and 28th in Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The concern: possible salmonella contamination. Officials say the tomatoes may have been contaminated by a supplier and flagged by Southeast tomato distributors in late April.

Story 5:

Peter Biello: The Barrow County Board of Education is considering raising property taxes to pay for school security officers. Barrow County is home to Apalachee High School, where two students and two teachers were killed last September in a shooting. Recently, Barrow County told the school system they would only help fund a dozen SROs — that's school resource officers — and that would be in line with an agreement made in 2017, leaving the school system on the hook for funding another 13 SROs. And that was a surprise, said James Bowen, assistant superintendent.

James Bowen: In 2017 this agreement reflected the number of SROs that were working at that time which was 12. We've increased that number through the years while also maintaining the same spirit of the 50-50 split. At this time, though, we've been told by the attached letter that we'd like to go back to the literal reading of the agreement from 2017 which does specify 12 positions being split-funded.

Peter Biello: In a statement to GPB, the Barrow County Public Information Officer said, because of a new law, the Board of Commissioners have a duty to ensure seniors' tax money doesn't go towards Board of Education expenses, and that, quote, "we have faith the Board of Education will provide a safe and secure school environment."

​​​​​​​Story 6:

Peter Biello: A federal judge is weighing a request from the Trump administration to unseal records of the FBI's surveillance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington, D.C., said during a hearing yesterday that he wants to see an inventory of the records before deciding whether the government can review them for possible public release. Justice Department attorneys have asked Leon to end a sealing order for the records nearly two years ahead of its expiration date. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference is opposed to unsealing any of the for privacy reasons. The organization's lawyer said King's relatives also want to keep the files under seal.

​​​​​​​Story 7:

Peter Biello: Georgia wildlife officials are using a method never before deployed in the state for oyster reef restoration near Sapelo Island. GPB's Benjamin Payne reports.

Benjamin Payne: At Teakettle Creek in McIntosh County, DNR crews are testing a new approach with wire mesh cages packed with oyster shells and lined with pine needles to keep out the mud. The agency is also using an older method of submerging loose oyster shells using barges and pressurized water systems. Tyler Jones is with the DNR and says the goal is creating habitat for oyster larvae floating in the water column.

Tyler Jones: What it'll do is it'll provide, within a couple of years, some good growth of oyster beds there. Also provides good fish habitat, so it's good for recreational anglers. And on top of that, it helps shoreline stabilization. So it's — it's a barrier, it's buffer for storms.

Benjamin Payne: The DNR is sourcing oyster shells from several different partners, including restaurants in Atlanta. For GPB News, I'm Benjamin Payne.

​​​​​​​Story 8:

Peter Biello: The 19-year-old Northwest Georgia college student who was detained by immigration enforcement now may have a chance at a path to citizenship after a traffic stop that turned out to be a mistake. GPB's Sofi Gratas reports.

Sofi Gratas: In a plain white room in an Atlanta law office, college student Ximena Arias-Cristobal steps to a podium bristling with microphones and explains why, in what should arguably be one of the best times of her life, she's too scared to even go outside.

Ximena Arias-Cristobal: Since I've gotten back I haven't been out because I do live in fear now. So does my family. I used to run every single day, go to the gym, hang out with friends.

Sofi Gratas: Arias-Cristobal was brought to Dalton, Ga., by her parents from Mexico at the age of 4 — a few years after the timeframe that would have qualified her for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, which offers temporary protection from deportation to certain children of migrants. She had no path to legal status. Her life was upended in early May after a traffic stop.

Police officer: Come over here.

Sofi Gratas: The police dash cam video of her arrest shows an officer pulling her over because he thought she had made an illegal turn. Arias-Cristobal had been driving with an international license that ultimately didn't protect her.

Police officer: You ever been to jail?

Ximena Arias-Cristobal: No, sir.

Police officer: Well, you're going.

Sofi Gratas: She was taken to the county jail, which cooperates with federal Immigration and Enforcement Authorities under a program known as 287(g). Arias-Cristobal ended up at an immigrant detention center in South Georgia. Reaction back home was swift and negative.

(Protesters chant)

Sofi Gratas: In the week after her detention, friends, family, and community supporters demanded Arias-Cristobal's release at a protest outside Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene's district office. This county voted overwhelmingly for Trump last year. Greene, who represents the area, has pledged full support for Trump's immigration crackdowns. And yet over half of Dalton's population is Latino. Many residents came here in the 1980s from Mexico to work in the carpet industry, like Jose Morales's family.

Jose Morales: Dalton has been my home my entire life, but, y'know, until recent times — it just doesn't feel the same.

Sofi Gratas: He said he's felt a rise in anti-immigrant sentiment, making life scary even for him, a U.S. citizen. County records show that this year, at the local jail, federal immigration officers have already requested holds of immigrants without legal status twice as often as last year. Morales sees the effects.

Jose Morales: So it's happening every day. So you might not see a lot of Latinos out here because they're scared.

Sofi Gratas: Kasey Carpenter, a Republican who represents Dalton in the state legislature, says before the election, he would tell his constituents that they would not be targeted by immigration enforcement.

Kasey Carpenter: And I tried to calm everybody's nerves and say, look, this is not what they're going to do. They're going to be getting criminals out of here.

Sofi Gratas: Not people, he thought, like Ximena Arias-Cristobal, who attends the same church as him. Now Carpenter is staking out a position at odds with fellow Republicans.

Kasey Carpenter: Yes, we want to get rid of criminals. Yes, we want to protect the border or shut down the border crossings, but we also need to figure out some kind of mechanism so that we're not taking good people out of communities.

Sofi Gratas: But ultimately, all charges against Arias-Cristobal, including that of driving without a license, were dropped when police admitted that the officer had pulled over the wrong car. The officer resigned, saying the department stayed silent in the face of, quote, "widespread defamation" and that he now fears backlash from the community. Arias-Cristobal was granted bond after about two weeks in ICE detention. Now, Dustin Baxter, one of her lawyers, says her arrest may pave her pathway to legal status through a U visa — which are for people who have been victims of a crime.

Dustin Baxter: If we can show that she was in fact the victim of an arrest that should never have occurred or a false arrest, and we get the cooperation of the city of Dalton, then we can apply for a U visa.

Sofi Gratas: The city of Dalton did not want to comment on the case. Baxter says Arias-Cristobal's next immigration hearing will likely be next year. For GPB News, I'm Sofi Gratas in Atlanta.

Peter Biello: And that's all the news fit for the podcast today. Thank you so much for listening to Georgia Today. We hope you'll come back tomorrow. Remember to subscribe to this podcast and check GPB.org/news for the latest updates on these stories and all the latest headlines published by our news team. If you've got feedback or a story idea, send it our way. The address is GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. I'm Peter Biello. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.

---

For more on these stories and more, go to GPB.org/news