A.M. ATL: Tips from ICE

Morning, y’all! Did you know that “morning” and “tomorrow” share the same Middle English root, “morwening”? Who knows what that means in the big picture, other than English is a funhouse of a language. Maybe mornings and tomorrows are both times for great plans.

Let’s get to it.

HOW ICE WORKED WITH SAVANNAH-AREA POLICE

New Chatham County bodycam footage requested by the AJC reveals more about how Immigration and Customs Enforcement worked closely with the Chatham County Police Department in Savannah to target and apprehend immigrants earlier this year.

Details from the footage reveal an unusual amount of cooperation between federal and local forces. Some excerpts:

• An ICE agent explains conducting traffic stops with local police is a way to “encounter somebody legally.”
• During more than one traffic stop, a police officer questions the driver of the vehicle while an ICE agent arrests passengers.
• After arresting people, an ICE agent says friends or family members coming to claim vehicles could pose another opportunity: “(W)e can turn picking up the vehicle into another arrest.”

ICE agents alone can’t stop people for traffic or vehicle violations. They can only pull people over if they have a warrant or reasonable suspicion. That’s one of the reasons the collaboration in Chatham County was so alarming to immigration advocates.

🔎 READ MORE: ‘Easy money’: In body cam recordings, ICE agents share tips on apprehending people

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HOW LEADERSHIP COMMITTEES WORK

Brian Kemp (center) and Burt Jones (right) are in the money, honey.

An AJC analysis of campaign funds shows Gov. Brian Kemp and Lt. Gov. Burt Jones took big payouts during this year’s legislative session from groups with a vested interest in the legislative outcomes.

For example, an insurance industry group paid $183,000 to Kemp’s Georgians First Leadership Committee to help Kemp promote his plan to limit lawsuits and jury awards.

• How they raise the money: Top state lawmakers can raise unlimited funds through leadership committees. Kemp himself created this avenue in 2021. The governor, lieutenant governor, the Republican and Democratic nominees for those offices and legislative leaders from both parties can create these committees.
• How much money are we talking? Kemp raised $1.5 million through his committee during the 2025 session, and Jones raised $757,000. The next highest was Democrat Stacey Abrams, who raised $103,000 through her committee.

Attorney General Chris Carr criticized this practice when he sued Jones, a fellow Republican gubernatorial hopeful, saying Jones’ ability to raise huge wads of cash gave him an illegal advantage.

(For reference, Carr can’t raise money during the legislative session, and his contributions are limited to less than $9,000 for the primary and $5,000 for a runoff.)

🔎 READ MORE: Secrets from the exciting world of Georgia campaign fundraising

TWO SEA CHANGES IN GA MARKETS

Two interesting shifts are afoot in Georgia’s legal and entrepreneurial sectors.

• On the legal front, dozens of leading attorneys have left prominent Atlanta firms in the last year to establish their own practices or join larger firms looking to expand in the area.
• Experts say it’s an unusual number of departures, but there’s a silver lining: Outside firms are ready and waiting to find a toehold in Atlanta, the biggest business gateway in the Southeast.

⚖️ READ MORE: Why Atlanta attorneys are shaking things up

• Lawyers aren’t the only ones crushing on the area. Georgia has spent a lot of effort wooing Indian talent for entrepreneurial pursuits and business collaborations through the Georgia Indo-American Chamber of Commerce.
• Trade between Georgia and India increased 66% from 2019 to 2023, and lots of Indian businesses have opened shop stateside.
• However, President Donald Trump’s new round of international tariffs, plus the U.S.’ unsure relationship with Indian leaders, could scare off new prospects.

🇮🇳 READ MORE: How Indian businesses in Georgia have reacted

MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS

👾 U.S. Space Command headquarters will move from Colorado to Huntsville, Alabama, Trump announced yesterday. Not to be confused with the U.S. Space Force, Space Command is part of the Department of Defense. It’s a big boon for Alabama after a long fight between the two states.

💬 Trump will also order federal intervention in Chicago and Baltimore but was very Simon Says on the details. “We’re going in,” he said. “I didn’t say when.”

✍🏻 Republican GA lawmakers want hand-marked paper ballots for this year’s November elections, echoing White House opposition to touch-screen voting.

🗳️ The race for Atlanta City Council president will pit a mayor-backed political insider and two-term council member against a progressive anti-establishment critic of city leadership. It’s going to be an interesting one.

WELCOME ABOARD THE PLANE TRAIN UNION

The Plane Train is in the midst of a major multipronged expansion and upgrade.

The nearly 100 employees who operate and maintain Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport’s Plane Train voted to unionize for the first time.

While the airport manages the Plane Train (say that five times fast), workers are actually employed by the train’s rail manufacturer.

“Organizing in the South isn’t always the easiest thing to do,” said Matt Hollis, national vice president with Transportation Communications Union/International Association of Machinists and lead negotiator for the group’s upcoming contract negotiations.

• When it opened in 1980, the Plane Train carried about 35 million passengers, the AJC previously reported. Last year, Hartsfield-Jackson saw 108 million passengers and has plans to reach 125 million in the next five years.
• Next up: A 600-foot tunnel extension, planned fleet growth from 59 to 73 cars and replacement of the 40-year-old switch system. Leaders promise the changes will improve the train’s capacity and speeds.

🚆 READ MORE: TCU/IAM unions’ first successful Atlanta organizing campaign in recent memory

NEWS BITES

Photos from this year’s Dragon Con parade

Featuring two of the best queens: Evil (Snow White) and Charlotte (Bridgerton).

It’s opening week for the Falcons. Here’s what you need to know to catch up

You could also ask any random guy at a Taco Mac if you prefer your information questionably sourced and shouted at you.

A real singing, dancing rabbi will play the fictional rabbi in beloved ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ at the Alliance Theatre

Make me a match! Very obsessed with this and looking forward to the future meta-musical about it.

Will your job survive the AI takeover? Here’s how you can prepare

Meaningful creation is born in the human soul, not a myopic program slap-chopping stolen content from the internet. Is this how we want to live, serving what was created to serve us? I’ll prepare by setting my computer on fire. (Not this one. Company owned and all.)

ON THIS DATE

Sept. 3, 1985

From the front page of The Atlanta Journal: Survivor of Titanic disaster says ship should remain on ocean floor. The wreckage of the Titanic, the “unsinkable” victim of one of history’s most storied ocean disasters, has been found 13,000 feet below the surface of the North Atlantic. … “I don’t know what’s to be gained by looking for it.”