Refuge city: Creating places of welcome in the suburban U.S. South

ABSTRACT

Clarkston, a little town in Metropolitan Atlanta, comes bearing big city nicknames. Often called the “Ellis Island of the South” and “the most diverse square mile in the U.S.,” Clarkston is just east of the city of Atlanta and has a total population of about 12,600 with an immigrant and refugee population of around 5,900 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS, 2012–2016). It is the primary place in the state where refugees from all over the world have been resettled since approximately 1980, and as a result, it has undergone demographic changes related to several waves of resettlement in the United States, alternating between East African, Southeast Asian, and Middle Eastern points of origin. The merging of those migration waves has created a “city of refugees,” and in 2014 marked Clarkston as Georgia’s most foreign-born city. This paper reviews the attractions of a small, southern, suburban town and explores the interactions of refugees with city leaders on issues of housing, public safety, and policing, as well as how local regulatory ordinances have immense impact on new American communities that cannot yet vote in local or federal elections.

Acknowledgments

A heartfelt thank you to the residents and local leaders of Clarkston, Georgia, for being brave, every day.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Interviews

Alice Mawi (Clarkston community member) in discussion with authors, February 15, 2017.

Altaf Sulaiman, Imam Usman, and Yousef (Masjid Al-Momineen) in discussion with authors, February 27, 2017.

Amina Osman (Clarkston community member) in discussion with authors, February 15, 2017.

Hussein Mohamed (Sagal Radio) in discussion with authors, February 22, 2017.

Kitti Murray (Refuge Coffee Co.) in discussion with authors, February 27, 2017.

Luma Mufleh (Fugees Family, Inc.) in discussion with authors, March 14, 2017.

Paedia Mixon (New American Pathways) in discussion with authors, August 2016.

Stephanie Ali (New American Pathways) in discussion with authors, March 14, 2017.

Ted Terry (City of Clarkston) in discussion with authors, August 2016.

Trent DeLoach (Clarkston International Bible Church) in discussion with authors, February 22, 2017.

Yonas Abraha (Eritrean-American Community Association of Georgia) in discussion with authors, February 23, 2017.

Notes

1. Housing unaffordability is a growing problem throughout Metropolitan Atlanta, as is the case in many cities around the United States. In fact, the city of Atlanta was designated the most “unequal” city in the United States for 2015 and 2016, in terms of class polarization (Berube & Holmes, 2015). The North-South divide in the region has also drawn attention, especially the relationship between the wealthier suburbs and intown neighborhoods to the North, and the increasing concentration of poverty and racial segregation to the South (Bennett, 2017; The Brookings Institution, 2016). Research on rental housing in particular points to the conundrum faced by refugee resettlement agencies in Georgia who want to diversify housing placement but are limited to placing people in neighborhoods where recent arrivals can obtain a job, access work without a car, and find affordable housing. Clarkston, located just east of Atlanta’s edges, has good regional connectivity, given its proximity to highways, bus service, and a commuter railway.

2. Although Clarkston was the most foreign-born city in Georgia in 2014, the annexation of additional lands in 2015 and 2016 added almost 5,000 new residents to the city’s population and decreased the total share of the foreign-born population of the city to just below half. The annexation included parts of unincorporated DeKalb County with more diverse land uses adding light industrial and commercial-zoned parcels. Clarkston expanded again in 2016 when city leaders annexed land southwest of the city.

3. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (2012) noted that policymakers with control over refugee resettlement practices did not always consult with local leaders: “Similarly, officials in Clarkston, Georgia, another community that was not initially consulted regarding the resettlement of thousands of refugees beginning in 1996, described the flight of long-time residents from the town in response to refugee resettlement and the perceived deterioration of the quality of schools.”

4. For instance, in 2003, Georgia House Representative Karla Drenner introduced legislation to require resettlement agencies to report to government authorities of municipalities where ten or more refugees were going to be resettled at one time (Georgia General Assembly, House of Representatives, 2003). In 2009, she held a town hall meeting to assert that agencies should offer more warnings prior to resettlement (U.S. Congress, Committee on Foreign Relations, 2010).

5. CEO of New American Pathways, Paedia Mixon, noted that “In 2013, a moratorium was requested by the state of Georgia after elected officials from Clarkston met with Governor Deal to request a pause in Clarkston resettlement” (Redmon, 2013). Because refugees cannot legally be prohibited from reuniting with family members, a reduction in new refugee placements was granted instead (Mixon, interviewed by A. Kim, August 2016; Nezer, 2013). That reduction caused complications for resettlement agencies as they struggled to find adequate housing for newly arrived refugees. Further, even when agencies found homes for refugees outside of the city’s boundaries, local contacts report that some would move to Clarkston within a year anyway thanks to the existing cultural networks and diverse businesses attractive to newly settled families. Current Mayor of Clarkston Ted Terry, describing the de-facto moratorium on new placements in 2013, remarked, “The whole moratorium issue—it sort of treat[ed] a city boundary as if there was a moat and a wall around it …. We might have Bhutanese moving into Clarkston, Clarkstonians moving to Minnesota, so these migrations are happening whether we try to stop them or not” (Terry, interviewed by A. Kim, August 2016).

6. Defined as “shops that give a neighborhoods character, such as restaurants, grocery stores, clothing boutiques, and beauty salons” (Kallick & Brick, 2015).

7. Non-metro counties experienced a decline of an average 43,000 residents per year between 2011 and 2015, and a smaller average decline of 21,000 residents between July 2015 and July 2016 (USDA, 2016).

8. “Clarkston Speaks” survey of city residents, 2016. Funded by the city of Clarkston and the Georgia Institute of Technology. Surveys were translated into six languages: Amharic, Arabic, Burmese, Karen, Nepali, and Tigrinya. Languages were chosen based on the most prominent languages spoken in the community and the availability of translators.

9. Clarkston is situated in the 30021 zip code in DeKalb County. Although approximately 13,000 zip code residents live outside of official city boundaries in the unincorporated county and cannot vote in city elections, those who use the Clarkston mailing address often consider themselves to be residents of the city.

10. Georgia Institute of Technology, IRB Protocol #H15079.

11. Trent DeLoach, interview by A. Kim and A. Bozarth, February 22, 2017.

12. Paedia Mixon, interviewed by A. Kim, August 2016; Ted Terry, interviewed by A. Kim, August 2016.

13. GIS map by Ashley Bozarth.

14. Trent DeLoach, interview by A. Kim and A. Bozarth, February 22, 2017.

15. Yonas Abraha, interview by A. Kim and A. Bozarth, February 23, 2017.

16. Luma Mufleh, interview by A. Kim and A. Bozarth, March 14, 2017.

17. A. Kim notes from Public Testimony, Emergency City Council Meeting on Public Safety, Clarkston, Georgia, April 27, 2017.

18. For example: residents with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status, as well as immigrants with Temporary Protected Status.

19. A. Kim notes from Public Testimony, Emergency City Council Meeting on Public Safety, Clarkston, Georgia, April 27, 2017.

20. Stephanie Ali, interviewed by A. Kim, March 14, 2017.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anna Joo Kim

Anna Joo Kim is an Assistant Professor of City Planning in the School of Public Affairs at San Diego State University. Dr. Kim’s research is focused on immigrant participation in the informal economy and ethnic labor markets, as well as equity and health outcomes related to the experiences of communities of color and the built environment. She has partnered with Los Angeles, San Diego, and Atlanta area municipalities and NGOs on planning for improved immigrant and refugee integration through participatory planning and targeted civic engagement. She has degrees in Gender and Feminist Studies (BA), Ethnic Studies (MA), and Urban Planning (UCLA, PhD).

Ashley Bozarth

Ashley Bozarth recently worked as a community and economic development research analyst for the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, specializing in workforce development policy. During her tenure there, she helped to launch the Center for Workforce and Economic Opportunity and managed the publication of a three-volume book on best practices in workforce development policy and practice. Ashley holds a master’s degree in city and regional planning from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and French from the University of Georgia. At Georgia Tech, her research focused on immigrant/refugee integration into planning, permanent supportive housing, and Housing First policies.