Democrats face reckoning on immigration policy during Trump’s second term

Today’s newsletter highlights:

• Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper reacts to bird flu crisis.
• Doug Collins faces abortion decision if confirmed as the next Veterans Affairs secretary.
• Presidential inauguration ratings decline from 2021.

A significant Democratic shift on immigration policy is underway in Georgia.

It’s not just the votes this week by U.S. Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock on an immigration bill named after slain Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, though that’s part of it.

Both were among 12 Senate Democrats who backed the measure, which is expected to be signed into law soon by President Donald Trump. Democratic U.S. Reps. Sanford Bishop of Albany and Lucy McBath of Marietta also voted for it after opposing earlier versions.

The measure was expanded to give federal immigration agencies broad authority to detain people living in the country illegally who have been accused of crimes ranging from theft to assaults of police officers. And it’s just the start of a bigger immigration debate.

Warnock was one of 13 Democratic senators who signed a letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., that acknowledged as much. They pledged to find ways to work with Republicans “in good faith to craft legislation that can achieve bipartisan support.”

“While there will be challenges, addressing the pressing needs of our nations’ borders and finding bipartisan solutions to our outdated immigration system are too important to ignore in the 119th Congress,” read the letter.

Back in Georgia, state Democratic leaders lament that they’re playing catch-up after Trump and other Republicans harnessed voters’ concerns about illegal immigration and border security to recapture the White House.

“We lost the argument on immigration,” state Sen. Emanuel Jones, a veteran Democratic legislator seeking a U.S. House seat in 2026, told the “Politically Georgia” podcast.

“We allowed the Republicans to lead. We should have taken the lead in coming up with an immigration policy and immigration strategy that we could embrace as a party and one that we could go out and communicate effectively to our constituents. We did not do that.”

***

Mr. Potato Head was once a star attraction in the annual Thanksgiving parade in New York. More recently, he garnered support in a Georgia election.

GOOD MORNING! State lawmakers canceled nearly all of their joint budget hearings this week because of a winter storm. But fear not, budget junkies. The weather-related delays are not expected to affect the overall timeline for approving the budgets. There’s a joint hearing today about federal Community Development Block Grant funding. And the House will hold a series of hearings beginning this afternoon and continuing next week.

Here are three things to know for today:

• Republican Attorney General Chris Carr said he raised nearly $2.2 million over 40 days, Greg Bluestein reports.
• An election official in a low-profile South Georgia race mistakenly awarded write-in votes for Mr. Potato Head and Mickey Mouse to a real candidate, the AJC’s Mark Niesse writes.
• The Trump administration has shut down the Spanish-language page on the White House website and social media.

***

Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper has been leading the response to bird flu in the state.

CHICKEN CRISIS. The thing about down-ballot statewide elected officials is that many people only pay attention to them when something goes wrong. That’s why a crisis this week in one of the state’s largest industries has put Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper in the spotlight.

The first-term Republican had to act fast last week when bird flu showed up for the first time in one of Georgia’s commercial poultry flocks. It’s a big deal because Georgia is the country’s top producer of broiler chickens, which is the kind most Americans eat.

Harper immediately suspended all poultry activities in the state, no easy decision for an industry worth an estimated $6.7 billion. He activated an “emergency operations center” and had an infected flock in Elbert County killed within 48 hours. He canceled a trip to Washington for the presidential inauguration and held Zoom calls with state legislative leaders.

“He immediately put the Department of Agriculture on war footing,” said state Sen. Russ Goodman, R-Cogdell, the chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee.

About the only hiccup happened on Friday when, after Harper’s announcement, speculation spread on social media about shortages of chicken in restaurants and grocery stories.

Harper clarified the next day that his order suspending poultry activities applied to things like shows and sales of live birds, meaning it was still safe to order wings.

“They’ve done an outstanding job,” said Mike Giles, president of the Georgia Poultry Federation.

***

ABORTION DECISION. Former Georgia U.S. Rep. Doug Collins will likely be confirmed soon as the new Veterans Affairs secretary, and one of his first major decisions could be about abortion.

The Biden administration said it’s OK for the VA — the nation’s largest health care system — to pay for abortions in the cases of rape, incest or if the life of the mother is in danger. It introduced that rule just a few months after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.

Democrats worry President Donald Trump, who took office on Monday and has boasted about his role in overturning Roe v. Wade, will get rid of that rule. Collins didn’t do much to reassure them during his confirmation hearing earlier this week.

Collins strongly implied during that he believes federal law prevents the VA from providing abortions. That law, section 106 of the Veterans Health Care Act of 1992, specifically excludes abortions from the VA’s reproductive care services.

The Biden administration said that another law passed in 1996 “effectively overtook” the 1992 law and allows the government to make decisions about abortions based on medical judgment and not legal criteria.

Collins’ take: “There is law from 1992 that says the VA does not do abortions. … We will be looking at that issue when I get in there to confirm that the VA is actually following the law.”

***

Coca-Cola Company Chief Executive James Quincey said that Coke has made special bottles for every presidential inauguration since 2005.

COKE FLOATS. Coca-Cola’s latest Diet Coke bottles have stirred up more fizz and buzz than the soda itself, all thanks to President Donald Trump and his well-known love for the Atlanta-based brand.

Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey spoke this week on CNBC about the mini controversy surrounding the commemorative Diet Coke bottles it produced for Trump’s inauguration.

Quincey said that Coke has made the bottles for every presidential inauguration since 2005 “but they never got attention like that.”

Some on social media blasted the company for cozying up to Trump. Others cheered the bottles.

In an interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, Quincey noted Trump is one of the world’s best known Diet Coke consumers.

Trump famously had a Diet Coke button installed in the Oval Office to signal for a cold soda during his first term. Apparently, he is bringing it back for his second term.

Quincey, meanwhile, said his relationship with Trump has tightened since the company sent the president a batch of Diet Coke bottles and a letter of congratulations following the Republican’s victory.

Earlier this month, Quincey accepted an invitation to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort to present a bottle in person, where the CEO said the two discussed world events, golf and the economy.

***

President Donald Trump raises his fist at the inaugural parade at Capital One Arena in Washington on Monday.

VIRTUAL CROWD SIZE. Moving President Donald Trump’s inauguration indoors means we avoided a weeklong dissection of crowd sizes, which in 2017 led to some memorable Sean Spicer news conferences and a legendary Melissa McCarthy appearance on “Saturday Night Live.”

But while we can’t compare the in-person crowd, we’ll turn to the next best thing: TV ratings.

According to Neilsen, 24.6 million people tuned in to Trump’s inauguration. That’s down from the 33.8 million who watched Joe Biden take the oath of office four years earlier. And it’s down from the nearly 31 million people who watched Trump’s first inauguration in 2017.

Some things to consider when comparing these numbers:

• Monday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, so lots of people had the day off and could have done other stuff during the day.
• The television coverage was longer than in previous years, averaging between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. across 17 networks. That’s a long time to keep people’s attention.
• Television ratings are down for everything (unless you are the NFL).

***

State Sen. Emanuel Jones, a Democrat from Decatur, is a guest today on the "Politically Georgia" show.

LISTEN UP. Today on “Politically Georgia,” Democratic state Sen. Emanuel Jones of Decatur will discuss his recently announced challenge to U.S. Rep. David Scott of Atlanta for the 13th Congressional District. And GOP state Sen. Jason Anavitarte, R-Dallas, joins the show to talk about his trip to the inauguration, as well as President Donald Trump’s executive orders on immigration.

Be sure to download the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Have a question for the show? Give us a call at 770-810-5297. Episodes are uploaded by noon each day, just in time to have lunch with us. You can also listen live at 10 a.m. EDT on 90.1 FM WABE.

On Wednesday’s show, former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms talked about her resignation from the President’s Export Council a day before Trump tried to fire her. Then, Georgia State University law professor Anthony Michel Kreis discussed the legality of the executive orders Trump signed in his first days in office.

***

TODAY IN WASHINGTON:

• President Donald Trump will appear by video to leaders attending the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
• The House will vote on a bill requiring health care after failed abortions and another that would restore the health of forests and reduce the likelihood of wildfires.
• The Senate will vote on whether to advance some of Trump’s Cabinet nominees, including John Ratcliffe as CIA director and Pete Hegseth as defense secretary.
• Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., will attend the Agriculture Committee’s hearing with Brooke Rollins, Trump’s nominee for agriculture secretary.

***

U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, a Democrat from Albany, will share leadership of the House Peanut Caucus.

PEANUT CAUCUS. U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Albany, will jointly lead the House Peanut Caucus alongside Rep. Barry Moore, a Republican from Alabama.

The bipartisan group of lawmakers will work to protect the interests of the peanut industry, particularly as Congress negotiates a five-year farm bill.