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Georgia Today: Fed official says tariffs may raise prices; Students sue over deportation risk; WAYMO
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On the Tuesday, April 15 edition of Georgia Today: The head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta says consumers should get ready for higher prices; Self driving cars are coming to Atlanta, and 17 foreign college students sue the federal government for seemingly using their past interactions with police to make them vulnerable to deportation.
Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast. Here we feature the latest reports from the GPB News Team. On today's episode, the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta says consumers should get ready for higher prices; self-driving cars are coming to Atlanta; and 17 foreign college students sue the federal government for seemingly using their past interactions with police to make them vulnerable to deportation.
Charles Kuck: They cannot be deported for any of these things. And no other administration, of course, would say "you're out of status" because the police arrested you and later dropped charges because they made a mistake.
Peter Biello: Today is Tuesday, April 15. I'm Peter Biello, and this is Georgia Today.
Story 1:
Peter Biello: A group of 17 foreign college students, including some from Georgia schools, has sued the federal government for allegedly deleting a record that makes it possible for them to legally study in the U.S. The lawsuit alleges that Immigration and Customs Enforcement deleted the record without due process, leaving them vulnerable to arrest and deportation. Charles Kuck is the lead attorney on the case representing the students and he's with me now. Welcome to the program.
Charles Kuck: Appreciate the opportunity to talk about this.
Peter Biello: So the students, some of whom attend Kennesaw State, Georgia Tech, and UGA, allege that the government deleted what's called their SEVIS records. What are those?
Charles Kuck: SEVIS records is a program that were created — created after 9/11, because we were tracking the hijackers — and it tracks foreign students in the United States. It's — it's run by ICE and is the precursor to obtaining student status in the United States. But it's very strictly controlled and getting into it and getting off of it have very specific regulations.
Peter Biello: And the consequence of having those records deleted without due process is simply that they're open to or vulnerable to arrest and deportation, correct?
Charles Kuck: That is correct. Ending SEVIS registration means their underlying student status is no longer valid, rendering them out of status.
Peter Biello: Broadly speaking, how would you describe the students at the center of this lawsuit?
Charles Kuck: Most of them are just regular, what you would think about college students who occasionally do a dumb thing or occasionally get caught up in a bureaucratic system that puts them at jeopardy. Of all the plaintiffs we currently have pending — others that will be joining a lawsuit later today — several of them have been arrested, for example, for failing to pay a speeding ticket. One of our clients from Tech lent his car to a friend and the friend ran a red camera light and our friend never got the ticket. And so he was arrested for not paying a ticket he didn't know about, and that was not his. None of our clients, however, have a conviction of any kind that renders them deportable from the United States. And just being arrested by the police, of course, doesn't make somebody deportable because so many people are aware that police do arrest innocent people.
Peter Biello: So you're saying, generally speaking, under a different administration, the things that these students have allegedly done would not be cause for deportation or call into question their immigration status or their status as a student?
Charles Kuck: Even under this administration, they cannot be deported for any of these things. And no other administration, of course, would say you're out of status because the police arrested you and later dropped charges because they made a mistake.
Peter Biello: Do foreign students have the same constitutional rights to due process as American citizens, assuming they have a proper visa?
Charles Kuck: Yes, they do. They're covered by the full panoply of due process rights in our constitution.
Peter Biello: So what must the government do if it were to follow due process and challenge a foreign student's legal ability to study here?
Charles Kuck: Our immigration laws actually account for this. They require the government to bring them before an immigration judge, make an accusation of which immigration laws they violated, and then prove that before an immigration judge. Currently, they're trying to circumvent that process by getting rid of the SEVIS registration and then saying "Leave." This is all part of the administration's plan to make foreign nationals leave the United States, even when they have a legal right to be here.
Peter Biello: In other words, creating the conditions where they're so stressed out, as you allege in the lawsuit that they are, that they self-deport, that they don't wanna be subject to any kind of maltreatment.
Charles Kuck: That — that is exactly what's going on and we've had a couple people decline to go in the lawsuit and just leave the United States because they were afraid of being detained. It is a tragic set of circumstances that we have here but we believe we will be successful in court this week.
Peter Biello: You said you're gonna add more plaintiffs. About how many?
Charles Kuck: We'll be adding about 150 plaintiffs this — later today. And there are many more that want to join, but we're trying to get an order in place so we can set a precedent here in the South on these — on these cases.
Peter Biello: And about how many of those 150 are from Georgia, would you say?
Charles Kuck: About 30 are from Georgia. Every university has been affected in the state, including many private universities. If only 1% of foreign students had been involved, that would be between 7,000 and 8,000 students around the United States.
Peter Biello: What role do colleges have here, if any? Are they empowered in any way to protect these students?
Charles Kuck: They are not, and they're very frustrated by that, I'm sure. But no, this is literally on the backs of ICE and now on the courts.
Peter Biello: The first hearing in federal court is scheduled for Thursday in Atlanta. What will you be asking the court to do?
Charles Kuck: We're asking for a temporary restraining order to restore the students to the status that they held before these notices went out so that they can be dealt with justly and correctly in a process that fulfills the requirements of due process.
Peter Biello: Charles Kuck, thank you so much for speaking with me.
Charles Kuck: Have a great day. Bye bye.
Story 2:
Peter Biello: The head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta is urging caution amid economic uncertainty. Fed president and CEO Rafael Bostic spoke at Emory University yesterday. He said the economy has gone into a, quote, "big pause" because people are waiting to see how the Trump administration's policies will pan out.
Rafael Bostic: I think what we have right now is a period where the range of possible outcomes has kind of multiplied and the boundaries and the guardrails that I used to have in my head about what could possibly happen have all kind of been blown up.
Peter Biello: Bostic said tariffs were likely to increase prices.
Story 3:
Peter Biello: Gov. Brian Kemp signed into law a pair of tax relief measures today. One of the new laws provides a one-time rebate to Georgia taxpayers. The other accelerates income tax reductions approved by state lawmakers last year. Kemp's signed the bill surrounded by top state political leaders in Cobb County.
Brian Kemp: We know that this is your money, not the government's. And we know that you know best how to spend it. I'm proud to put this money back where it belongs and entrust hard work and Georgians with their own funds.
Peter Biello: The General Assembly approved the rebates without opposition while the income tax cuts passed mostly along party lines.
Story 4:
Peter Biello: The Rome City Council passed an ordinance last night to require pet owners to spay, neuter, and microchip their dogs and cats. Commissioner Harry Brock says the ordinance mirrors one passed by Floyd County about a year and a half ago.
Harry Brock: Whether a dog runs in the next door neighbor's yard that's in the county and one's in the city. So it's just to make it consistent with the ordinance that the county already has in place.
Peter Biello: The measure passed unanimously.
Story 5:
Peter Biello: Northeast Georgia's old Habersham County Courthouse is being torn down after years of discussion and hope that the structure could be repurposed. A private developer's plan for retail office and restaurant spaces in the building fell through last year. County Commissioner Ty Akins says the demolition is a turning point for the county.
Ty Akins: It was a bit of an eyesore. A lot of people in Clarksville had nicknamed it the ugliest courthouse in Georgia. It's something that really needs to be done, so it's really not sad.
Peter Biello: Built in 1963, the building had been vacant for years. Local officials still believe the location is ripe for investment.
Story 6:
Peter Biello: Autonomous Ubers are coming to Atlanta. Starting this summer, Uber riders may be matched with a self-driving Waymo vehicle, part of a major expansion in the city. The 65-square-mile service area stretches from Buckhead to Capitol View. Waymo has been testing its driverless cars in Atlanta for about a year, but until now, only with employees. Now, Uber users can opt in through the app for early access. Atlanta will be Waymo's largest launch yet.
Story 7:
Peter Biello: It's been almost 15 years since the historically Black fraternities and sororities at Macon's Mercer University came together for one big yard show. This year, that changed. Inspired by their peers at other schools, student groups created routines in the uniquely African-American tradition of percussion and dance called stepping to perform for everyone on campus. Why? To tell their classmates a little more about who they are. GPB's Loren Reddish brings us this audio postcard.
Teresita Cabral: Well, the history behind stepping really is kind of the same thing as, you know, Divine Nine Shore. It's Black culture. My name is Teresita Cabral and I am a part of the Mega Mu chapter of the oh so Marvelous Omegu Mu Chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Serenity Inc. It's us performing for ourselves, not for others, and just having that space of brotherhood or sisterhood, whether it's fraternity or sorority, coming together to do a performance, it's really nice.
Caleb Blue O'Gardner: Hi, my name is Caleb Blue O'Gardner. I am a brother of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. A large amount of the campus doesn't really know about us and I feel like this is a very, very, very good opportunity to show the cool things that we do. Just letting everyone know what our history is, especially since we're just coming back from a 15-year hiatus.
Devin Spencer (AMBIENT): We're going above. Y'all did start getting your elbows open.
Devin Spencer: My name is Devin Spencer. I am a member of Alpha Phi Alternatives Inc.
Devin Spencer (AMBIENT): Your elbows, not your hands. To me, I want to like, picking it up like this. It's kind of like a flaring up.
Devin Spencer: So with strolling, you can work on timing, but you can kind of do a little bit different things in their strolls and stuff like that. So it kind of makes it a little different. So you can have a different sound to it, have a difference vibe, have a differnt look.
Devin Spencer (AMBIENT): Let's try it again. Pick up the elbows, please.
Devin Spencer: With stepping you have to be in unison.
Step performance: I said WHAT! Do these others think? That they can step with the brothers of M.I. Inc?
Devin Spencer: We're here, we're here for a good time, and a long time. And we're just here to have fun and we're to show people what we're about because we're not trying to play no games.
Tammy Wilson: So last regional conference, we went to their step and stroll yard show that they had. My name is Tammy Wilson. I am a Fall 23 initiative of the Iota Eta chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.
Tammy Wilson (AMBIENT): Girl, can you believe the race is today? Yes, sis, we seriously have to watch it.
Tammy Wilson: So while looking at them, we saw they did dancing, they did a few talking parts, they did some videography, stuff like that.
Tammy Wilson (AMBIENT): Are y'all seriously nervous? This will be easy considering we are the first and the finest in the world. Yeah, we are.
Teresita Cabral: Just coming together in general in one show. Yes, we're showing a performance. We're showing all the history of Divine Nine and Black people and Black excellence in a way, but bringing those people together no matter what color, race, anything.
Peter Biello: You just heard students at Mercer University in Macon on the importance of the step show.
Story 8:
Peter Biello: The president of the world soccer governing body FIFA visited Atlanta yesterday as the city prepares to host millions of soccer fans over the next two summers. GPB's Amanda Andrews has more from his visit with Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Amanda Andrews: FIFA president Gianni Infantino joined Dickens to celebrate the growing passion for soccer in the city. Atlanta will host six club Cup games in 2025 and eight World Cup games in 2026. Infantina announced FIFA will also donate $1 million to the city of Atlanta for youth initiatives as a host city. Dickens says the money will go towards engaging and educating kids.
Andre Dickens: We're going to have a team that's planning, you know, where do we place this? Do we create little soccer fields or do we go out here and create, you know, engagement opportunities and activities that they can participate in during this summer? But whatever we come up with, we're going to come up with it soon and start activating.
Amanda Andrews: The first World Cup club games will begin in Atlanta on June 14. For GPB News, I'm Amanda Andrews.
Story 9:
Peter Biello: ESPN announced a partnership yesterday with Georgia's viral baseball sensation, the Savannah Bananas, to broadcast several of their games later this year. GPB's Benjamin Payne reports.
Benjamin Payne: Ten so-called "Banana Ball" games will air on either ESPN or ESPN2, with simultaneous streams on Disney Plus and ESPN Plus. They'll include marquee matchups in major league ballparks such as Fenway Park in Boston, as well as the NFL stadiums of the Tennessee Titans and Carolina Panthers. The Bananas are known for their unorthodox approach to baseball, full of trick plays and zany rules, the most notable being that if a fan catches a foul ball, the batter is out. Savannah Bananas founder and owner Jesse Cole announced the ESPN deal on a video posted to social media with two hosts of SportsCenter.
Jesse Cole: We are going big, the biggest we've ever gone with ESPN. Let's go. Let's do it, boys.
Benjamin Payne: The first broadcast will air on ESPN2 next Saturday, when the Bananas play before a sold-out crowd of over 80,000 fans at the football stadium of Clemson University in South Carolina. For GPB News, I'm Benjamin Payne in Savannah.
Story 10:
Peter Biello: And in Major League Baseball, the Braves face the Blue Jays in Toronto tonight. Spencer Schwellenbach gets the start. Third baseman Austin Reilly had two home runs and five RBIs as the Braves beat the BlueJays 8 to 4 last night for their second road win of the season. Braves right-hander Grant Holmes didn't allow a hit until Miles Straw homered to begin the bottom of the sixth. Tomorrow, Spencer Strider is expected to make his long-awaited return after UCL surgery took him out of the game for most of last season.
Atlanta Dream drafted South Carolina Gamecocks guard Tahina Pau Pau and Ohio State forward Taylor Thiry in the WNBA Draft last night. The Dream has some new faces this year, including veteran Brittany Greiner. General Manager Dan Padover says he's excited about the group that's come together.
Dan Padover: I think they all really, really want to play for Atlanta, which is really important. They're proud of this city. Um, they love our fans and they want to make something electric here in this city, so I think that's what the main thing we're all excited about.
Peter Biello: The WNBA season starts in May.
Peter Biello: And that is it for today, but we will be staying on top of some of the stories you heard today. As we pursue the follow-up stories, follow up your listening by subscribing to this podcast now. That way we'll be there for you tomorrow, no reminder required. And our reporters are often posting updates as soon as they learn them at GPB.org/news. If you've got feedback, we'd love to hear from you. Send us an email. The address is GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. I'm Peter Biello. Thanks for listening, we'll see you tomorrow.
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For more on these stories and more, go to GPB.org/news
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