When the sound of shelling and air-raid sirens woke her up in the middle of the night, Victoria Malaschenko had no choice but to hole up in her windowless bathroom. There were no bomb shelters near her Ukrainian port city home of Odesa.
By the spring of 2023, more than a year into Russian’s invasion of Ukraine, Malaschenko, 31, was drained both physically and emotionally. Initially reluctant to leave her country, she decided to take advantage of a Biden-administration humanitarian program to legally seek safety in the U.S., and settled in metro Atlanta, where she knew a friend.
“I realized I just couldn’t live like that anymore,” she said.
Malaschenko’s story is one of many that capture an important change in Georgia demographics: the state’s immigrant population is surging. In 2023, Georgia had the second-largest percentage increase to its foreign-born population out of all 50 states, per federal data released earlier this fall.
The numbers come from the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual American Community Survey, among the most comprehensive sources of information about the nation’s changing population and workforce. It does not distinguish between legal and undocumented immigrants, so it is unclear how many of the 105,000 people who came to Georgia last year did so with authorization.
According to the survey, the number of Georgia’s foreign-born residents reached nearly 1.2 million in 2023, or 11.6% of the state’s overall population. That’s up from 10.7% the year before, an increase matched by New Mexico (9.2% to 10.2%) and exceeded only by Delaware (9.9% to 11.2%).
The raw number of new immigrants in Georgia last year was over 105,000.
Nationwide, the share of people in the U.S. who were born abroad grew last year to 14.3%, its highest mark in more than a century, according to The Associated Press.
“I’m doing my best here right now,” said Malaschenko, who found a job in medical billing. “In Ukraine, life is still difficult. There is no safe place there right now. And unless it’s completely safe, I don’t think I would go back.”
Nataliia Brychenkova, 45, echoed that sentiment.
A fellow Ukrainian, she arrived legally to metro Atlanta in 2023 alongside her two daughters, ages 17 and 24. She worries every day about the situation back home, including the safety of her husband, who joined the Ukrainian army immediately after the start of the invasion. But she values the stability she has found in Georgia.
“I’m really grateful for safety and security and that the U.S. has a process and has room for people like us,” she said.
Credit: Courtesy of Nataliia Brychenkova
Credit: Courtesy of Nataliia Brychenkova
In Georgia, and across the country, the surge in the immigrant population seems to have been driven by new arrivals from Latin America. Nearly 50% of Georgia’s immigrants in 2023 were born in Latin America, up slightly from 48.4% the year before.
New legal Latin American arrivals include Adrián Albarran. The 30-year-old settled in metro Atlanta in May 2023, after leaving his homeland of Venezuela.
According to Albarran, he was driven to emigrate because of the dangers of being politically opposed to the country’s longtime authoritarian ruler, Nicolás Maduro, and because of an uncertain professional future as a recent medical graduate.
Thanks to a humanitarian protection extended to Venezuelans by the Biden administration last fall, Albarran has a temporary legal status in the country. He has also applied for asylum, which would come with more permanent protection and a path to citizenship.
While in Georgia, where he joined family, Albarran has found work as a medical assistant. He has also become involved in organizing the Venezuelan exile community against Maduro’s decision to remain in power following an election this summer that was marred by evidence of fraud. The U.S. has joined many other countries across the Americas and Europe in rejecting Maduro’s claim of victory.
“If Maduro stays and the dictatorship consolidates power, then the region (the U.S. and Latin America) has to be prepared for a big wave of migration starting this year and into 2025. And that would cause big problems,” said Albarran, who noted that political repression has become more intense in Venezuela following the contested election.
Credit: Courtesy of Adrián Albarran
Credit: Courtesy of Adrián Albarran
His plans are to stay in the U.S., improve his English, and revalidate his medical license to be able to practice here.
“There’s a path to achieve that. It takes time and dedication, but it’s possible,” he said.
According to the American Community Survey, a plurality of the state’s immigrants (38%) arrived here before the year 2000. Another 37% settled in Georgia in 2010 or later.
Overall, 49% of Georgia’s immigrant residents have achieved U.S. citizenship, and would have been able to vote in this year’s presidential election.
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