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Georgia Today: ICE raids in NW Ga.; Rivian plant construction plans; Religious freedom bill signed
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On the April 4 edition: Authorities give details on Bartow County ICE raids; Rivian resumes new plant construction plans; Gov. Brian Kemp signs the 'religious freedom' bill into law
TRANSCRIPT:
Orlando Montoya: Hello and welcome to Georgia Today. This podcast features the latest reports from the GPB News Team. On today's episode, authorities are providing more details about ice raids in Bartow County, automaker Rivian has resumed its construction plans for a new plant in Georgia, and Governor Brian Kemp has signed the religious freedom bill into law.
Gov. Brian Kemp: Today I signed SB 36, also known as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, or RFRA.
Orlando Montoya: Today is Friday, April 4. I'm Orlando Montoya.
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Orlando Montoya: Federal immigration authorities are providing details about recent operations in Georgia, including a labor trafficking raid at a flooring manufacturer and other locations in Northwest Georgia's Bartow County. Authorities charged two men with felony labor trafficking, alleging fraud, coercion and quote, "horrific" working conditions that impacted at least 60 victims, many from China. But the raid last week also caused fear and confusion among migrant workers in the area. Stephen Schrank, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Atlanta, addressed those concerns today.
Steven Shrank: There were no mass deportations. No one that was encountered at that site has been yet removed from the United States. Largely, we were focused on foreign nationals that were being victimized by U.S. labor.
Orlando Montoya: He says in the past two weeks, several agencies have come together to quote "surge enforcement" on both immigration and criminal law violations.
Orlando Montoya: Georgia lawmakers still have many decisions to make today, the last day of their 2025 legislative session. This morning, they agreed to grant a new $250 state income tax credit for parents of children ages 5 and under. Also passing this morning, the religious freedom bill. Gov. Kemp signed the bill into law this morning, saying the state is quote, "no place for hate."
Gov. Brian Kemp: Today, I signed SB 36, also known as the Religious Restoration, or Religious Freedom Restoration Act, or RFRA, ensuring that once again, at the state level, that Georgians are protected, including Georgians of faith.
Orlando Montoya: The law bans the government from interfering with the person's exercise of religion. Critics of SB 36 say it allows people to use religion as an excuse to discriminate against marginalized groups. Also today, the Georgia House of Representatives and the Senate agreed on a budget for the fiscal year 2026, which starts in July. The $37 billion budget includes big gains for the prison system, student mental health, and Georgia Promise Scholarship Program. Matt Hatchett chairs the House Appropriations Committee.
Matt Hatchett: As I told you when the budget left this House, the budget is highly focused on public safety and education. That position still holds in the conference committee version.
Orlando Montoya: The General Assembly also allocated funds to literacy initiatives and increasing prison staff. Now that both chambers have approved the budget, it moves to Gov. Brian Kemp's desk to be signed into law. Kemp is allowed to veto specific line items in the budget if he chooses.
Also expected to get votes today, a measure that would ban diversity efforts in public schools and colleges, and a measure would change how speed enforcement cameras work in school zones. It is the last day for bills to pass the General Assembly in both houses and go on to Gov. Brian Kemp. Some of the top proposals already won final passage earlier in the session. Those include Kemp's effort to limit lawsuits and a school safety bill following last year's school shooting at Apalachee High School. Measures that don't pass today could be considered again in 2026. And as always, for the latest from under the Gold Dome, visit gpb.org/news. You can also tune in to GPB's Lawmakers. That program airs tonight at 7 on your GPB TV station. And later, if you miss it, you can watch it at gpb.org/lawmakers.
Orlando Montoya: After a pause in construction last year, development is underway again at the Rivian factory near Social Circle, east of Atlanta. GPB's Amanda Andrews has the latest on the project timeline.
Amanda Andrews: Construction on the factory will begin in 2026, and the first vehicles are expected to roll off the production line in 2028. Georgia will produce the new R2 and R3 mid-size SUV models. Like many auto manufacturers, U.S.-based Rivian is waiting to see what impacts tariffs will have on the industry overall. Rivian spokesperson Peebles Squire says the stated goals of the Trump administration support their current company strategy.
Peebles Squire: The narrative here is all really about on-shoring those jobs, bringing U.S. manufacturing back, and we're certainly aligned with the administration on that. And ultimately, in Georgia, that means 7,500 jobs by 2030 that people, you know, can be proud to have.
Amanda Andrews: Rivian recently opened a showroom in Alpharetta for consumers to see vehicles in person. For GPB News, I'm Amanda Andrews.
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Orlando Montoya: The economic uncertainty spawned by the Trump administration's new tariffs is upending Georgia businesses. Chris Fagan, a partner in the Atlanta accounting firm Moore-Colson, sees that close up, working with clients who are buying or selling businesses. He says tariffs are significantly reducing mergers and acquisitions.
Chris Fagan: I'm working on a deal where 95% of their raw materials they use are Canadian steel and aluminum. And most of the work they're doing now, they've already quoted eight to 10 months ago before these tariffs were even being discussed, makes it hard for them to transact in an economy like this.
Orlando Montoya: It expects retaliatory tariffs to hit Georgia exports from agriculture to manufacturing especially hard. China, the state's third largest export market, today imposed a 34% retaliatory tariff on U.S. goods starting April 10.
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Orlando Montoya: Georgia Humanities has been notified that it's losing its funding that supports the organization's work in cultural and educational programming in the state. The Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency cut the National Endowment for the Humanities budget by 80% and most of its workforce. NEH gave notice to Georgia Humanity yesterday that all grants were immediately canceled. Organization officials say most of their programs cannot continue without the funding. Georgia Humanities has served the state for more than 50 years and works with 250 local organizations. Their programs include the web-based New Georgia Encyclopedia and National History Day Georgia.
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Orlando Montoya: Only 18% of Georgia's children ages 6 to 17 meet the recommended daily amount of exercise. A new program hopes to increase those numbers and become more physically active. GPB's Ellen Eldridge has more.
Ellen Eldridge: The program from Health Empowers challenges young people in Georgia to collectively achieve 25 million minutes of physical activity in 2025. The goal is to establish lifelong habits and lay the foundation for more movement in youth programs. Physical health is connected to emotional wellness. That's the message that advocate organizations like Health Empowers want young people to hear. Jennifer Owens is the president and CEO.
Jennifer Owens: Yes, moving your body is important. Yes, eating the right food is important, and also, how does that connect to our brain and our emotions and the way we relate to one another? This could potentially be transformative in terms of how we raise up this next generation.
Ellen Eldridge: Owen says the challenge to Georgia's youth is being made via schools, day care centers and community groups. For GPB News, I'm Ellen Eldridge.
Orlando Montoya: Georgia voters will choose from eight candidates to fill two seats on the Georgia Public Service Commission, qualifying for candidates closed yesterday. The statewide elected body regulates how much Georgia Power and other utilities can charge customers for services. Up for election this year is District 2, which stretches from Atlanta's eastern suburbs through Athens, Augusta, and Savannah, and District 3, which includes the core metro Atlanta counties of Fulton, DeKalb and Clayton. Georgia usually doesn't have statewide elections in odd-numbered years, but regular elections were delayed since 2022 by a lawsuit. May 19 is the last day to register to vote for the June 17 primary. Early in-person voting will begin May 27.
Orlando Montoya: Ahead of the Masters Tournament next week a new memorial opened yesterday commemorating generations of Black caddies who worked at Augusta National Golf Club. GPB's Chase McGee has that story.
Chase McGee: A 25-foot-long, 1,200-pound golf tee is the latest piece of Masters history. Along the tee you'll find the faces of local legends: Sandhills own Black caddies who worked at Augusta National for decades, up until 1983 when the course allowed players to bring their own caddies. There to remember their counterparts were a handful of living caddies, like Otis 'Buck' Moore, who drove a truck for work each week, looking forward to the weekend when he could caddy.
Otis 'Buck' Moore: I'm just privileged to be here with everybody, all the people that turned out to see us. And, you know, let them show you that, you know, you ain't forgotten. You know what I'm saying?
Chase McGee: The tee will be open to the public as the Masters' practice rounds begin on Monday. For GPB News, I'm Chase McGee in Augusta.
Orlando Montoya: One hundred years ago, a sensational divorce case ignited an explosive battle over race and class. That case is now the subject of a new book by Savannah writer Denny Bryce. The book is a work of historical fiction called The Trial of Mrs. Rhinelander. It tells the story of Alice and Kip Rhinelandr, whose real-life scandal was shocking even for the Roaring Twenties. It involves a secret interracial marriage and the New York elite. And it follows Bryce's other published books, which center on strong Black female characters. I spoke with Bryce about the story during the Savannah Book Festival in February.
Denny Bryce: Alice Jones was a domestic. Her family, British immigrants. She hung out in New Rochelle, and that's where her father owned a taxi company. She meets this very young — he was 18 when she met him, and she was 22 — man who happened to be a real estate heir to the mighty Rhinelander family. His name was Leonard Kip Rhinelander. And so they start a, you know, young person's affair. It's the '20s. There's a lot of excitement to be freer with your lifestyle than the generation before. But keep in mind, these are British immigrants. And so, they have like a three-year affair. And then they get married. And three weeks later, he sues her for an annulment. and the annulment is based on her never mentioning that she was Negro, using the terminology of the time. So that became the kickoff to a very volatile, very interesting from a research — from my research, I could see the choices that she was making and I truly believe they were in love and that the actions that he took initially were designed by his family. Just like, "Oh no, we can't have this Negro girl." Well, she didn't even think she was Negro.
Orlando Montoya: Her father was Jamaican.
Denny Bryce: Mixed-race Jamaican. Now, in that society, at that time, there was a term called mulatto. The fairer the skin, better your chances were for advancement and — and this sort of thing. So when he married a white woman in London, in the house where he worked, there were no raised eyebrows because a distinction between Britain at that time in America is that they did not have the one drop rule. And that one drop rule was all about America. So when Alice was, quote-unquote, accused of being Negro, she denied it.
Orlando Montoya: And so what appealed to you about this story? Why did you want to write a book inspired by it?
Denny Bryce: The importance or the relevance of this story for me was that this woman, her life was just totally turned upside down, but there was still something about her that she made such a crazy decision. But when she thought she was going to lose the case, she changed and said — and it was a headline story — in the article, said all this while she's denying that she's Negro and then it looks like that the annulment is going to go through so she comes up with it and she goes "Oh no, I know how I can win this and keep him. I am Negro and he knew it." And that move to me was fascinating. It just gave me so much character to work with, from — because keep in mind: historical fiction, biographical historical fiction. Yes, there's so many facts, so much you can find when you dig into, just Google this case and you'll get tons of information. But that character, that woman, that's who I was seeking between the headlines.
Orlando Montoya: The story also touches on the media and the nature of celebrity even 100 years ago. I mean, reporters followed Alice for years. I can't even imagine living in that kind of fishbowl.
Denny Bryce: Yes, absolutely in a fishbowl. But also when you're writing historical fiction, the things that repeat through history. I mean, newspapers were the TMZs and the social media back in the '20s of today, and the way celebrities, or definitely the very wealthy, are presented in the press, chased by the press, hasn't changed that much. The press has changed dramatically, in my humble opinion, but still that interest in money others and scandal, it hasn't changed all that much
Orlando Montoya: Did you find any living descendants of the Rhinelanders or the Joneses to ask them about this story or your book?
Denny Bryce: The Rhinelanders, I did not check. I did try to see if they still had their money, and I couldn't find anything. And that's not unusual. Let me emphasize that when you're writing stories about history and the African American family that may make the news, the women certainly aren't chronicled. But there weren't any diaries. There weren't many letters. I mean, frankly, Alice... in many ways disappeared for 50 years. There was an incident where I think in 1940-something her car was stopped and she was detained because she might have been intoxicated driving.
Orlando Montoya: And so you just found her obituary in the newspaper and that's it?
Denny Bryce: You're right. But the important thing that pieced together the story in my mind of who she was was the name on her tombstone. Because part of the legal shenanigans, at some point — because this case went on for six years, because she did not want her marriage to end. And she twists and turns to avoid that marriage ending. But when there was some final agreement, that included her never using the Rhinelander name.
Orlando Montoya: And what did the tombstone say?
Denny Bryce: "Rhinelander." And that told me — the fact that she had that on her tombstone — it told me why. She loved that man.
Orlando Montoya: Why did Lenny seek an annulment if he was in love? Was it just his family? I mean, what? What were his motivations in this entire affair?
Denny Bryce: The family, but for Lenny, I think he's a little spineless. I think that he was the youngest son. He was definitely a stutterer. He was sent to a school by his family to try and buck him up. So I think, that he very much dependent upon his family. At the same time, Alice, that relationship made him feel independent. But the bottom line in that time period is that he didn't have a means of making money. He was a Rhinelander. He had no skill set, other than what the family business told him to do.
Orlando Montoya: Well, Denny Bryce, it's a wonderful book. Thanks for it and for talking with me today.
Denny Bryce: Thank you so much.
Orlando Montoya: Denny Bryce wrote The Trial of Mrs. Rhinelander. It's the latest book featured on GPB's podcast about books with Georgia connections called Narrative Edge. Find Narrative Edge at gpb.org/podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Orlando Montoya: All right, haven't you been enjoying that lovely spring weather we've been having lately? Perfect weather for a baseball game, and for Braves fans tonight, it's a special one, because Atlanta is taking on the Miami Marlins for their home opener at Truist Park. The team's longest winless start since 2016, though, has left manager Brian Snitker desperate for a recovery. Atlanta blew a 5-0 lead to lose 6-5 to the Dodgers on Wednesday night for a 0-7 start. Their 0-9 opening in 2016 led to a last-place finish.
And that's it for this edition of Georgia Today. If you'd like to learn more about these stories, visit gpb.org/news. If you haven't yet hit subscribe on this podcast, take a moment right now. To keep us current in your feed, hit subscribe. If you have feedback, we'd love to hear that. Send feedback to georgiatoday@gpb.org. I'm Orlando Montoya. Peter Biello will be back to host the program next week. Sofi Gratas and I have enjoyed filling in for him while he's been spending time with his newborn child and his family. Welcome back, Peter, and tune in again on Monday for another Georgia Today.
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