The chilling detainment of green card holder Mahmoud Khalil, a Syrian national and recent Columbia graduate, raises a lot of questions about the rights of permanent residents, most notably freedom of speech. To answer the sort of questions that came to my mind, immigration specialist Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, managing partner at Lincoln-Goldfinch Law in Austin, TX, graciously took the call.

We also delved a little into some "great replacement theory" conversation, on the heels of news that the U.S. population only increased from 2022-2023 because of immigration. In other words, the U.S. future (and current) economy needs an influx of immigrants to meet demand.

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Later today, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens announced (through a spokesperson) that he was backtracking on his support for Beltline rail expansion on the trail's east side, instead looking to the south portion. Beltline rail advocates are none too pleased; neither am I.

As I'd said last week, Mayor Andre Dickens is uniquely positioned to be an advocate for mass transit growth in not only his city but in all of the metropolitan area (he is chair of the Atlanta Regional Commission, after all). Instead, he's making the same mistake made when the downtown streetcar was plotted out (to go to and from nowhere essentially). His mis-direction compounds what already makes pitching mass transit in Atlanta and throughout the state so difficult: MARTA already goes nowhere people need it to, too.