ATLANTA — Some Caribbean and African immigrants and refugees said they are consulting with immigration attorneys about their rights and options, following this weekend’s ICE target operations.
“They’re very scared. They’re very concerned,” DeDe Ntumba, the President of the Congolese Community of Atlanta told Channel 2’s Audrey Washington.
Dr. Elaine Bryan with the Jamaican Consulate of Atlanta said she fielded phone calls from concerned immigrants this weekend.
“I have a student visa. How would they respond to me? What is the legal process to apprehend us?” Bryan said are some of the questions she has gotten.
President Donald Trump’s mass deportation policy kicked into action in cities across the country, including metro Atlanta.
ICE officials said they mostly rounded up immigrants with criminal backgrounds, but some immigrants and refugees in the U.S. legally said they still fear deportation.
- ICE launches ‘targeted operations’ in metro Atlanta
- Woman left with 2 broken arms after she says abandoned dog attacked her in East Point neighborhood
- Tin Roof Cantina to close after nearly 20 years of business in DeKalb County
“If [they’re] going to work, they might not come home after,” Ntumba said.
According to the consulate, there are about 8,000 people from the Congo living in Georgia.
“With the Congolese community we have a lot of refugees because of the war,” Ntumba said.
For Jamaicans living in Georgia, that number swells to about 500,000.
“Half a million. Some of them came for school,” Bryan said.
Ntumba said the main concern is whether Trump will end the temporary protected status program that allows refugees to remain in the country legally.
Immigration attorney Joshua McCall said there are protections in place.
“There’s still the law and there’s still the Constitution,” McCall said. “The best thing for an immigrant to do is to prepare all the documents that show that they are here, they’ve paid taxes, their criminal record, everything is clean.”
©2025 Cox Media Group
